The luxury industry is on an upswing: 25% of affluent consumers purchased at least one high-end product a month in 2012, versus only 10% in 2011, according to research from Ipsos MediaCT. In response, luxury brands and retailers are turning to digital tools and channels, including social and mobile, to engage and communicate with consumers, and in turn, generate more sales.

During the Luxury Roundtable: State Of Luxury 2013 conference in New York City, a Donna Karan New York (DKNY) executive discussed how the brand leverages social media to drive brand evangelism and loyalty.

“It’s called social media for a reason,” explained Aliza Licht, SVP of Global Communications at Donna Karan International. “It’s not called ‘push media’ or ‘message board media.’ You’re meant to engage. In the luxury industry, the whole concept of engaging can be scary. Brands think that in doing so, they’re giving away their ‘secret sauce’ or what makes them coveted, but that’s not the case.”

Ease of site navigation is a key differentiator among retailers in the highly competitive e-Commerce space. Best-in-class eTailers are making the browsing and buying journey easier by perfecting keyword search, according a research report, titled: 12th Annual Merchant Survey Report, from the e-tailing group. The study indicated that 98% of retailers believe keyword search is a top priority, due to customer demand for efficiency in site navigation.

Caché, a nationwide specialty retailer of women’s clothing and accessories, has improved sales substantially since implementing the SLI Systems full-service Learning Search solution, which includes an auto complete tool. The retailer has seen an increase of 88% in conversion rates among site search users and a 42% lift in site search usage.

As part of an expansion of its two-year-old e-Commerce site, Eataly has partnered with Dotcom Distribution to fulfill orders and provide upscale product packaging. The Eataly enterprise includes 12 brick-and-mortar stores in the U.S. and abroad, and an e-Commerce site that delivers products within the U.S. Currently, the only U.S. store is located in New York City, but the company is expanding to Chicago in 2013.

“To meet the high expectations and brand promises that we’ve set with our brick-and-mortar stores, we needed a fulfillment partner that would scale to fit our business and deliver products on time, while still going the extra mile to make premium gift packaging a priority,” said Alex Saper, CFO of Eataly in a press release. “Dotcom Distribution is a trusted partner that will grow with us without sacrificing the brand standards our customers expect.”

Following is Part 2 of the Retail TouchPoints series focused on Retail Wins In Gamification. This article will spotlight forward-thinking retailers that leverage game mechanics and strategies to enhance employee and consumer engagement. Part 3 of the feature will publish in the April 9 newsletter. Click here to view Part 1. 

 
Progressive retailers are investigating how gamification can play a role in their employee training processes and customer engagement strategies across channels. Among them, Duane Reade, Whole Foods, Nike and Sneakpeeq are tapping into different gamification strategies to boost loyalty, efficiency and the bottom line.

Duane Reade Builds Brand Awareness With Ingress

Duane Reade recently integrated with mobile application Ingress, which was developed by NianticLabs@Google. Ingress itself is a unique example of gamification in the realm of retail business. The app offers a storyline involving two factions, The Enlightened and Resistance, which are battling each other to control a recently discovered resource called Exotic Matter. Players choose a faction to join and compete against one another in teams to “control” territory.