Is Electronic Customer Relationship Management for Luxury Brands? : Case study of the fashion luxury industry

Luxury brands are motivated by their long-term vision, where the establishment of relationships with high-net worth customers is essential. Further supported by the fact that it may cost them as much as five times more to acquire new customers than retaining existing new ones. Luxury brands major focus is on providing an exceptional experience, which can arguably be hard to achieve online. Electronic Customer Relationship Management (e-CRM) further puts the focus on the customer interaction with little or no human contact at all. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the practice of Electronic Customer Relationship Management in luxury brands. In particular, how fashion luxury brands communicate the luxury value through e-CRM. The research method of this paper is qualitative, further a multiple case study of six luxury fashion brands. The cases has been observed from annual reports and websites. In order to fulfil the purpose several e-CRM characteristics were investigated, which were connected with the different value dimensions of luxury brands. The main challenge facing luxury brands is the dilemma between accessibility and exclusivity. The brands uses different strategies in order to handle this dilemma. The study shows that it is possible to deliver all four value dimensions online through the use of e-CRM initiatives. Therefore, it could be argued that online interactions would not weakening, but rather strengthening the brand image. This thesis focus the problem from the brands perspective.