The
second day of the New York Times International Luxury conference was focused on
the luxury consumer and the luxury experience, keeping technology at the
heart of the conversation much like the first day.
Some
issues discussed were:
- The evolving consumer. It is all about consumer and much less about markets – people aren’t limited geographically, they buy what they want where they want.
- Customers desire to be recognized, they want customized service and they want to feel empowered about how they use the services provided to them. Authenticity needs to be created in everything luxury brands so in order to create life changing experiences. (Allen Smith CEO Four Seasons)
- The ultimate luxury today is the ability to unplug - to go to a location where there is no internet - it is profoundly regenerating. (Johannes Torpe Creative Director Bang Olufsen)
- Luxury brands and companies need to hire people with emotional intelligence that understand their customers and know how to work without a script. What matters to customers is the culture and the people who animate it.
- Customers want magic, every day magic. The big challenge is to make products more sophisticated and easy to live with. It’s about creating a young brand and engaging consumers at an earlier level with an object the youngsters can afford so that later they will buy a bigger one.
- The influence that ecommerce has had on buying patterns amongst luxury clients in the digital age. Experience is at the core of this concept with Neiman Marcus, Yoox focusing their attention on how they treat the consumer from an experiential perspective. The human touch will never go away and can be the differentiating factor amongst competitors.
Some
specific examples of how brands are changing with their changing environment:
- Intel
Corporation developed a
bracelet that replaces the cell phone except for the calling function : it sends
texts, voice mails, Facebook posts and has a touch screen which is hidden on
the inside of the bracelet so the person opposite cannot see your messages.
Technology has thus built a relationship with fashion to expand what is
possible.
Astrid Welter from the Fondazione Prada presented how Prada has invested in architecture and the arts allowing the public to experience various artists and experience spaces that otherwise would have been defunct.
So, what is the
next big thing? Skyler Tibbits from MIT presented a 4D printing processes that
allow material to transform themselves from flat surfaces to 3D structures.
These processes will allow products to be shipped cost efficiently.
