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Report Says Pandemic Hastening High-End’s Transition To Digital July 15, 2020 (0 comments)
New York, NY—Luxury brands—especially jewelry and watches—were notoriously slow to embrace e-commerce, but even before the coronavirus pandemic struck, they were moving in that direction. Not surprisingly, the pandemic has hastened the sector’s transition, reports Glossy.co, an online luxury fashion news site.
To wit, the site illustrated the 2020 edition of Watches & Wonders (formerly SIHH), which was live-streamed online to 800,000 viewers. Top-tier watch brands unveiled more than 100 new models during the event, and those successfully sold shortly after.
Luxury might have been slow out of the gate but it’s catching up. McKinsey & Company projects e-commerce to make up 19% of the total luxury market by 2025.
Interestingly, Glossy reports on another sector that’s been going gangbusters since the pandemic: digital luxury resale. Luxury resale in general was rocketing long before the pandemic, a reflection of consumers desire for both value and sustainability.
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Leading fashion resale site ThredUp saw a 50% surge in business immediately following the initial quarantine period in March. Whether that’s sustainable remains to be seen, but other sites are also reporting significant gains in both buyers and sellers even months after the initial lockdowns.