Luxury Brand Marketing experts Burberry and Hermes show how we can learn from their approach to e-commerce
In the world of luxury clothing brands, Burberry and Hermes are two which really stand out in effective luxury brand marketing.
Both of these brands are longstanding, well-known international status icons which have been at the forefront of the fashion industry for many years, with each featuring a range of product lines that are both exceptional and distinct. However, although similar in their status and products, both of these brands differ significantly when it comes to their digital e-commerce offerings.
Burberry, for example, is a brand that gets it spot on when it comes to digital e-commerce. The brand provides a digital experience which is perfectly aligned with the persona and image that it conveys to customers, and creates an experience and feel which is chic, modern and cool. This effective company branding technique uses a range of bold visuals throughout its website, featuring a dynamic homepage which integrates a range of interactive elements and breath-taking photography which manages to instantly capture the attention of any visitor immediately.
When it comes to creating your own e-commerce website, there are plenty of lessons which can be learned from Burberry and Hermes.
Luxury Branding Means Creating Compelling Visual Design
When building an e-commerce site, it is important to put together a design which is visually compelling in order to help differentiate your brand from your competition and catch the attention of customers.
Burberry is an excellent example of this, getting it just right by creating compelling, interesting product pages which are dramatically different from any that you will find offered by their competitors. They include details on the product pages which elevate the shopping experience and add to their brand value.
The product images are all shot perfectly and displayed on a consistent backdrop, which emphasises the product detail and ensures that every element of the product is shown in clear, crisp focus. One of the most unique and interesting features utilised by the Burberry website is the use of larger image tiles, making for a different yet visually appealing browsing experience. Along with that, any supplementary product details are sectioned off, allowing customers to effortlessly find the exact information that they are looking for.
Infusing Branded Content
An e-commerce site is much more than simply a destination where products can be purchased. A good e-commerce site will provide a platform for brands to engage with their visitors and deliver content which provides a great experience by telling an interactive story about the brand. Burberry’s website is able to achieve this by seamlessly merging written, photo and video content and commerce.
This creates a brand image which is fluid and consistent throughout the whole site.
These experiences all serve to build an emotional connection between customers and the brand which is similar to that of visiting a physical retail store and browsing products in-person.
For example, Burberry’s Acoustic section features a range of musicians performing in natural settings whilst wearing Burberry clothing, with no evidence whatsoever of a hard sell but rather an exclusive look into the lives of these various individuals. And, the Our History section provides a compelling visual recap into how the iconic Burberry Trench Coat has developed and evolved over the years.
The key to luxury brand marketing is to create the scene for which your brand is at the forefront of the trend.
Modern Luxury Marketing means a Simple, Minimal Structure
Brands such as Burberry and Hermes often feature an extensive product line-up, making it challenging to effectively categorise each product.
This can lead to customers experiencing difficulty when it comes to finding the products that they want. Therefore, it is absolutely essential to ensure that the structure of your e-commerce site is as simple as possible, making it easy for visitors to navigate the products which you have on offer. Burberry have again managed to do an excellent job of this, designing a site which makes exploring products a simple yet intuitive experience.
The dynamic directory which is included on the left-hand side of the page is easy to navigate and allows customers to search products by both category and collection.
The menu unconventionally places as a list on the left of every page. Using a cascading format of decreasing font-sizes and down arrows, the menu is easy to navigate and indirectly supports their company brand motif.
More on luxury branding marketing – How Pinterest’s New Features are Encouraging Users to Shop
Balancing Creativity with Functionality
We’ve talked a lot about how Burberry can be used as a great example of e-commerce site design, but what about Hermes?
Whilst also a world-class luxury fashion brand, Hermes is severely lacking when it comes to their digital e-commerce experience. For example, certain brands go too far when making their sites stand out from the competition, and they end up leaving their customers a little confused.
Hermes is a prime example of this, since the brand’s website presents an unconventional design that although interesting and compelling, is difficult to understand and has raised questions from customers as to whether it actually functions as an e-commerce site. The homepage looks more like an art gallery than a fashion store, and there is a serious lack of information about both the Hermes brand and any of their products.
Without these elements, Hermes is missing out on a huge opportunity to deliver a seriously engaging brand experience. A miss-step in effective luxury brand marketing, wouldn’t you agree?
Interesting, Robust Product Pages
On many of the product pages shown on the Hermes site, there is a stark contrast to the wealth of information offered by Burberry when it comes to the product descriptions.
Rather than going into detail, Hermes offer only a few words, with sparse, to-the-point descriptions that provide little further information about the product pictured. The lack of information doesn’t just stop there, either – many of the products are presented on sketches rather than on models, and are limited to just one or two product photographs.
Two world-class fashion brands, but two very different e-commerce sites that can give you a great idea of what and what not to do.