{"id":32925,"date":"2019-06-03T08:00:36","date_gmt":"2019-06-03T15:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/industry\/blog\/?p=32925"},"modified":"2023-05-31T16:44:26","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T23:44:26","slug":"the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/","title":{"rendered":"The next generation of luxury retail"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/p>\n

The global demand for luxury goods is strong and rapidly growing. It feels like buying a luxury handbag these days is as common as upgrading your electric toothbrush! But what is the big attraction? The soft leather, the unique designs, the beautiful detailing? Or is it something else?<\/p>\n

\u201cLuxury equals status, and status is based on exclusivity,\u201d says Retail Prophet founder, Doug Stephens<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s having things that other people don\u2019t have. That is fundamentally the nature of luxury.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet luxury products are far more available in the past 10 or so years than ever before, promoted by celebrities and self-made influencers on Instagram. A decade ago, during the great recession, many luxury brands reached outside of their traditional target markets to attract the growing middle classes in China and around the world. At the same time, luxury has gone online in a big way. A recent study conducted by Microsoft and McKinsey found that more than 80 percent of luxury sales have been influenced by digital, whether it\u2019s via search, influencer recommendations, or the purchase itself.<\/p>\n

But the concept of luxury is about to change. Again. In part, this is due to the faltering Chinese economy and prices of everyday products and services rising worldwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cLuxury brands have to reckon with the idea that the gas might be coming out of that engine,\u201d Stephens says.<\/p>\n

But the nature of purchasing is changing, especially among younger consumers. Where a generation ago status might have been based upon what you kept in your garage, \u201cfundamentally you\u2019re dealing with a generation where social currency isn\u2019t so much what you own, but who you\u2019re with,\u201d according to Stephens.<\/p>\n

A new world in luxury retailing, therefore, takes the focus from a product and puts it into an experience. Access to the experience, which may be a live webcast or event, could be limited. That adds a level of exclusivity and that FOMO, the fear of missing out.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s \u201cnot just about getting a handbag or a certain watch, but being a part of something that is happening live,\u201d Stephens says.
\nSo how does a luxury retailer keep its customers engaged?<\/p>\n

\u201cFOMO is really the new promo,\u201d Stephens says. \u201cWe can capitalize as retailers on this desire of young consumers to want to be a part of something that is very exclusive and limited in nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephens believes the next iteration of luxury will be about freedom:\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a more day-to-day thing. Do I live close to the place that I work,\u201d he says. \u201cDo I have the freedom to travel when I want to? Can I go places? Can I work abroad? And do I have the freedom to be offline when I want to be offline?\u201d<\/p>\n

If you think about it, luxury brands are already leaps and bounds ahead of their rivals. They do better than more mainstream brands by creating that FOMO, by having very clear campaigns that are all about living and showcasing that luxury brand experience.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s the opportunity for a retailer? \u201cWe think the opportunity is to extend the brand to the bigger idea of what luxury is all about,\u201c Stephens says.<\/p>\n

That could mean a company like LVMH<\/a>, which manufactures fine spirits, opening a chain of hotels. The idea, Stephens says, is to capitalize on self-actualization or freedom. Pass the Champagne!<\/p>\n

To learn more about how you can reimagine your retail experience, watch the on-demand webinar The Five Most Important Decisions Facing Today\u2019s Retail CEOs<\/a>, which Stephens shares these insights and more on the changing trends in retail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The idea of luxury is driven by a fear of missing out. But the nature of luxury is changing, from exclusive, high-end products to a focus on experiences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":576,"featured_media":33171,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1501],"post_tag":[],"content-type":[1483],"coauthors":[2556],"class_list":["post-32925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-retail","content-type-thought-leadership","review-flag-exclu-1593580298-456","review-flag-new-1593580249-279"],"yoast_head":"\nThe next generation of luxury retail - Microsoft Industry Blogs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The idea of luxury is driven by a fear of missing out. But the nature of luxury is changing, from exclusive, high-end products to a focus on experiences.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The next generation of luxury retail - Microsoft Industry Blogs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The idea of luxury is driven by a fear of missing out. But the nature of luxury is changing, from exclusive, high-end products to a focus on experiences.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Microsoft Industry Blogs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-03T15:00:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-31T23:44:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/iStock-470883252.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2235\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1341\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cath Brands\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cath Brands\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 min read\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/\"},\"author\":[{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/author\/catherine-brands\/\",\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@name\":\"Cath Brands\"}],\"headline\":\"The next generation of luxury retail\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-03T15:00:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-31T23:44:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/\"},\"wordCount\":607,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/iStock-470883252.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Retail\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/\",\"name\":\"The next generation of luxury retail - Microsoft Industry Blogs\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/iStock-470883252.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-03T15:00:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-31T23:44:26+00:00\",\"description\":\"The idea of luxury is driven by a fear of missing out. But the nature of luxury is changing, from exclusive, high-end products to a focus on experiences.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/iStock-470883252.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/iStock-470883252.jpg\",\"width\":2235,\"height\":1341,\"caption\":\"A young woman in front of her clothing boutique\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The next generation of luxury retail\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Microsoft Industry Blogs\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Microsoft Industry Blogs\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Microsoft-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Microsoft-Logo.png\",\"width\":259,\"height\":194,\"caption\":\"Microsoft Industry Blogs\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The next generation of luxury retail - Microsoft Industry Blogs","description":"The idea of luxury is driven by a fear of missing out. But the nature of luxury is changing, from exclusive, high-end products to a focus on experiences.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The next generation of luxury retail - Microsoft Industry Blogs","og_description":"The idea of luxury is driven by a fear of missing out. But the nature of luxury is changing, from exclusive, high-end products to a focus on experiences.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/","og_site_name":"Microsoft Industry Blogs","article_published_time":"2019-06-03T15:00:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-05-31T23:44:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2235,"height":1341,"url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/iStock-470883252.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cath Brands","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cath Brands","Est. reading time":"2 min read"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/"},"author":[{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/author\/catherine-brands\/","@type":"Person","@name":"Cath Brands"}],"headline":"The next generation of luxury retail","datePublished":"2019-06-03T15:00:36+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-31T23:44:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/"},"wordCount":607,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/iStock-470883252.jpg","articleSection":["Retail"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/","url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/","name":"The next generation of luxury retail - Microsoft Industry Blogs","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/iStock-470883252.jpg","datePublished":"2019-06-03T15:00:36+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-31T23:44:26+00:00","description":"The idea of luxury is driven by a fear of missing out. But the nature of luxury is changing, from exclusive, high-end products to a focus on experiences.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/iStock-470883252.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/iStock-470883252.jpg","width":2235,"height":1341,"caption":"A young woman in front of her clothing boutique"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2019\/06\/03\/the-next-generation-of-luxury-retail\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The next generation of luxury retail"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/","name":"Microsoft Industry Blogs","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#organization","name":"Microsoft Industry Blogs","url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Microsoft-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Microsoft-Logo.png","width":259,"height":194,"caption":"Microsoft Industry Blogs"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Microsoft Industry Blogs","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32925"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/576"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_tag?post=32925"},{"taxonomy":"content-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-type?post=32925"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=32925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}