Gucci opens its new luxury digital flagship store at gucci.com
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Integrated launch program includes first-ever virtual attendees at Milan Fashion week, hologram window displays, in-store iPad stations and a viral welcome video at gucci.com/digitalflagship
30 August 2010, MILAN - Gucci, a pioneer of the luxury online shopping experience since 2002, is pleased to announce the opening of its new luxury Digital Flagship store at gucci.com. Following an 18 month architectural renovation under the direction of Gucci Creative Director Frida Giannini, the new online retail destination takes advantage of the most innovative technologies available today thereby seamlessly integrating rich content, shopping and social networking to provide the site's monthly 2.5 million unique visitors with an aesthetic and customer-oriented experience that replicates the one they have when entering a Gucci signature flagship store in Rome, New York, London or Shanghai.
Frida Giannini’s distinct design concept for Gucci's iconic flagship stores around the world is reflected down to the last detail in the architecture, rich color palette, textured materials, structure and product display of the Digital Flagship. Visitors to the new site travel online through the experience of a physical Gucci retail store, where products are displayed against a backdrop of gold, light beige, rosewood and other sophisticated materials, adding a sense of three-dimensional richness to the site set against contextual video and photography narrating the stories behind the products.
"Through the use of new technologies I believe we have created a Digital Flagship destination, where our customers can truly experience the beauty, quality and craftsmanship of Gucci's collections in a truly luxurious way," commented Frida Giannini. "It is also very important to me that social networking capabilities are an integral part of the new site as shopping for fashion is almost always an experience that is shared and enjoyed with friends."
Another guiding philosophy of the new Digital Flagship, which is also iPad friendly, is its ease of use and functionality. The horizontal navigation, a defining feature first introduced by gucci.com, displays all available products on one page. An added scrollbar showcases items in the three-by-three product display as in Gucci’s retail stores and the drop-down shopping menu in the main navigation bar permits browsing without leaving the current page view. The highly impactful product photography is further enhanced by a click and zoom feature from multiple angles allowing shoppers to discover each item - inside and out - before purchase, just as you would be able to do in a store. Creating optimum convenience and ease of search, ready-to-wear pages give visitors the ability to buy separates, for a more focused shopping experience. On every product page shoppers can click on links that directly connect them to relevant content - videos, news items, photos of celebrities wearing a product - from the “World of Gucci” area. Shoppers can express their passion for Gucci by sharing product and content pages via links on Facebook, Twitter and e-mail or by simply selecting “love” for a particular product or page. Clients have the ability to shop by gender in the separate “Shop Men” and “Shop Women” sections. These dedicated departments are set against different environments, again as they are in the stores.
In the new Digital Flagship, inspiration and product are never far apart. The “World of Gucci” brings the House to life through five different areas: Gucci Forever, which delves into every aspect of Gucci’s 90 year history; Gucci Now, which updates visitors on news, events and fashion shows; Think Forever, which spotlights artistic and environmental initiatives; Act Now, which highlights philanthropic efforts; and Gucci Connect, which includes distributed digital content. The integration of social media such as a live Twitter feed, an interface with the Gucci official Facebook fan page, and product page links to ready-to-wear items straight off the catwalk, allow visitors to truly engage with the brand.
Patrizio di Marco, Gucci’s President and CEO said, "Gucci is a company with a deep respect for the past but at the same time with an eye firmly focused on the future. We see technology as offering a means to an end. It is not the end itself. The customer experience is what counts and what has to be the focus. With the ubiquity of broadband today and the widespread adoption of social networking we have aimed to develop a rich and connected online experience that reflects the height of luxury and service one experiences when entering our flagship retail stores.” Di Marco continued, “Our strategy online is clear: all paths lead to our Digital Flagship, whether you are seeking out Gucci through a search engine, or are one of our near 1 million Facebooks fans, or are one of the over 600,000 people who have downloaded our Gucci App or are one of our 18,000 Twitter followers. The destiny of the gucci.com Digital Flagship store is that it will become our highest volume store in the world."
An integrated marketing and communications plan to support the opening of the new Digital Flagship launches on September 1st with a groundbreaking invitation to attend Frida Giannini's next women's ready-to-wear fashion show as a virtual guest at gucciconnect.com, an innovative hologram window display in signature retail locations, in-store iPad stations and a viral welcome video (gucci.com/digitalflagship)among a wide range of other activities. As with other flasghip store openings Frida Giannini has designed an exclusive collection of accessories in celebration, which in thus case are only available for purchase online.
Gucci was in fact a pioneer when it launched its US e-commerce site in 2002. The current site operates in 17 countries in 8 different languages, while e-commerce is offered in 12 countries. With over 2,000 skus available online the gucci.com site is considered one of the benchmarks of the luxury fashion industry. One of the reasons Gucci has been successful in attracting new customers is because of the attention paid to the internet. Through the site, Facebook, Twitter and the Gucci App, the brand reaches a growing digitally-oriented customer in a very direct and content rich way.
The GucciOfficial page on Facebook has over 900,000 fans and is growing steadily. At the end of June, the Gucci App, which is updated every two months, counts more than 600,000 downloads and over 1,100,000 updates. Innovative media and technology represent a valuable complementary business channel as well as a vital way of communicating.
Founded in Florence in 1921, Gucci is one of the world's leading luxury fashion brands. With a renowned reputation for quality and Italian craftsmanship, Gucci designs, manufactures and distributes highly desirable products such as leather goods (handbags, small leather goods, and luggage), shoes, ready-to-wear, silks, timepieces and fine jewelry. Eyewear and fragrances are manufactured and distributed under license by global industry leaders in these two sectors. Gucci products are sold exclusively through a network of directly operated boutiques (295 at June 2010) and a small number of selected department and specialty stores.