In order to lure younger shoppers, brands large and small are joining an online push sweeping the luxury goods world, where web sales are already major growth drivers for fashion labels.
Swiss watchmakers were finally convinced that customers would pay thousands to buy intricate timepieces on the web, after a boom in online luxury goods sales.
In an interview at the Baselworld watch trade fair, Jean-Claude Biver, head of Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-LVMH’s watch business, said: “We didn’t realize the speed at which millennials would take to buying cars or watches online.”
LVMH’s Tag Heuer, a label long associated with motor racing, is looking to fully build out its own shoppable sites over the next 18 months, Biver added.
Tag already operates online stores in five countries including the United States and Britain, and has a partnership in China with JD.com, the company said. According to Reuters, LVMH sister brands Hublot and Zenith are yet to follow suit.
Many watchmakers have flirted with web sales, though often through one-off collaborations with multi-brand web retailers.
Watchmakers have reasons to take control of their online image, as websites run by unofficial resellers proliferate.
Jerome Biard, chief executive of Corum, owned by China’s Citychamp, said: “We want to reassure people, while taking into account that today clients also might like to buy their watch at home.”
The Swiss brand’s first e-commerce site will be fully operational in about two months, Biard added.
Consultancy Bain & Co projects says that web sales are expected to make up a quarter of all global luxury goods sales by 2025, up from around 9 percent last year.
