Lorre White, The Guru of Luxury

"Inside the luxury category with The Luxury Guru, Lorre White" an Interview with global luxury expert featured exclusively in The Top Tier Magazine

New Feature (just out today!) "Inside the luxury category with The Luxury Guru, Lorre White" in The Top Tier Magazine

http://thetoptier.net/index.php/home/luxury-business-news-and-updates/1720-inside-the-luxury-category-with-the-luxury-guru-lorre-white

 

The luxury industry can be considered one of the most complicated for business to navigate. While the luxury consumer has boatloads of disposable cash to spend, they are not the simplest to sell to. Statistics will show that luxury buyers are the most organic demographic with constantly changing behaviors.

A recent article pointed to a shift in quality preference over brand prestige in China. Are luxury shoppers becoming more concrescence of their spending? We asked Lorre White, The Luxury Guru for her thoughts on this always changing category:

TheTopTier.net: There has been a lot of conflicting information coming from Asia. While most analysts would suggest that we are heading for a luxury spending slowdown, the numbers from major luxury brands seem to indicate the opposite. What’s The Guru’s take on the luxury market situation in Asia?

Lorre White: One article says China is rapidly growing; the next gives statistics of how it is contracting.  It is a mistake to view China as all or none on the world domination of the luxury market.  China is a huge, complicated market with continental-size diversity.  I think most of the reports about China being weak, is comparable to the child's fable of Chicken Little "The sky is falling".  I do not pay much heed in the alarmist's articles; I think they believe a negative attitude will garner more readers.  First of all these reports are often written bygeneral journalists, not specifically trained in the luxury/UHNW sector and so the reports are often erroneous or misunderstood.  For example, when someone in the sector says "affluent" it conjures to someone not trained in this sector great wealth, where in actuality the term affluent means someone with an annual income starting around $75,000.  Life is not stagnant, it is always changing and morphing, that does not necessarily mean switching from good to bad.  As the Chinese country matures in the new era of more economic success and exposure to western luxuries, it will go through a great deal of change.  It will start with the largest cities and move through the China to the smallest.  China is complicated and the truth lies between the extremes.  Luxury companies cannot allow themselves to see a crisis where it does not exist.  In the long run, China’s sheer size in economy, population, and as a percentage of global consumers spending—will continue to increase. Even a small portion of China’s overall market is bigger than many markets’ total size.

Chinese consumers now account for about 27% of all global luxury purchases, but almost 60% of those purchases are made outside the mainland. Luxury brands see their sales experiencing dips on the mainland, but are more than making up for it in their stores elsewhere.  Smart companies are now differentiating between the “China Market” and the “China Demographic.”  Any attempt to simplify it as an unstoppable force or a luxury market about to collapse is bad strategy. To be sure, there are challenges and hurdles to its continued meteoric rise, but it is equally true that long-term prospects for China as a luxury consumer culture are positive.

One of the reasons that many people that work in the luxury sector follow my luxury news posts www.LuxGuru.Typepad.com is that I weed out all those features that are erroneous.

TTT: Luxury brands continue to focus on mobile apps and marketing. Are they doing a good enough job engaging HNWI’s and other affluent groups? Any examples of effective campaigns?

LW: The less expensive the luxury the more it relies on the aspirational consumer.  For example Prada relies on the aspirational consumer for 80% of its sales and Gulf Stream Jet relies on a pure UHNW sector and/or corporate sector for 100% of their sales.  Social media is most effective on the lower price point purchases. The wealthier the individual the less they interact on the web, this does not mean the less they use it. It simply means the wealthier the individual the less of a foot print on the web.

Different social media attracts a different age brackets.  For example Twitter has a younger and less affluent market than FaceBook.  So for products like cosmetics, perfumes, hair products and fashion, Twitter is a powerful resource and brands like Burberry, Chole and Dior that target the younger affluents do a great job with their social media.  In the car sector Bentley and Jaguar are doing a great job.  Retailors like Nordstroms and Neiman Marcus are leading in their successful social media reach. Using social media in the luxury sector is particularly effective in reaching and engaging the earlier stages of the wealth populace. Luxury brands and retailers created their own hash tags and sharable content for fans to spread with their peers. The most effective campaigns were those that engaged followers in a conversation about the brand.

TTT: Austerity seems to be a buzz word these days. Do you think personal wants and desires will always outweigh what’s practical? 

LW: Absolutely, since the earliest recorded history this has been the case.  The UHNW sector does not have to deal with what is "practical" like the lower economic sectors.  The UHNW are global citizens that are not tied to any one specific nationality or region.   They have multiple multi-million dollars homes on several continents.  They are not affected by the micro elements, as they just move to where suits them best. For the UHNW there is no austerity; they do not have to decide between luxuries, they can enjoy them all.  The UHNW that are the sole purchasers in the elite end of the luxury sector, things like private jets, yachts, etc., are not affected by the day to day middle class issues of the economy to such a degree that it changes how they live.  The luxury market has never been stronger globally.

The number of Ultra High Net Worth Families is growing. Knight Frank, forcasts the UHNW to to grow from almost 200,000 households globally now, to 300,000 in the next decade.  Just in the past year their fortunes are up by $566 billion (about the GDP of Saudi Arabia).  The estimates on how big the UHNW are in overall dollar terms is between $26 trillion and $70 trillion.

There are not many media sources that successfully reach the UHNW because they carry aspirational sector news.  For the UHNW time is their rarest asset, and they do not want to be on media that wastes their time.  My luxury news "Lorre White, The Luxury Guru" (www.LuxGuru.Typepad.com)  covers the high end of the luxury sector that is relevant to them.

TTT: We’ve established that certain markets are hot for luxury. What are your thoughts on the situation in Europe where most luxury brands originate?

LW: 75% of the elite luxury brands globally are European.  The luxury sector is very much dominated on the production side by the Europeans.  However, Europe has been maxed out on the consumption side of the equation and they rely on growth countries like the BRIC countries for future expansion.  The USA is also a powerful growth area as they are already developed (wealthy) and are only at about 37% of their luxury consumption potential.  The US is a large growth potential for luxury brands where the cultural affects are already understood.  The US and China are really the most powerful immediate potential areas for the luxury sector. 

TTT: Demand for luxury travel has shown unprecedented growth. Are there any categories that you feel are going to be key in the next few years?

LW: Experiential luxury travel is the fastest growing division within the travel sector globally.  Experiential means travel that usually has an educational component; Learning about wines in France, cooking schools in Italy, race car driving school, historical locations, etc.,.

The China market will reach 100 million outbound travelers by 2020, making it the largest in the world.  Chinese travelers focus more on shopping, as opposed to Westerners who spend on food, accommodation, and “experiences.”

A recent report in Jing Daily from Sage Brennan of China Luxury Advisors emphasizes the point: "Brands should take advantage of Chinese consumers’ newfound obsession with travel to communicate and showcase their brand heritage and culture in ways that are not possible in China, with its glitzy-glass-and-marble retail environments and ubiquitous luxury fashion shows. Chinese consumers are hungry to learn and experience history and heritage and understand luxury brand quality and workmanship. Utilize these assets to give your customers a truly unique experience that they cannot get in China. They will love your brand all the more for it, and reward you with higher spending across the globe.....  In other words, “Ms. Wang” may buy one LV bag per year in Shanghai but three in Hong Kong, four in New York, and six in Paris."

TTT: Thank you your thoughts. It appears that ‘luxury’ isn’t going anywhere and the desire for luxury goods and services will always be part of the economic picture.

Lorre White, has been a international luxury marketing expert for two decades and is the founder of White Light Consulting an international luxury marketing consulting firm working with luxury brands to reach the world’s wealthiest 1%. She is the founder of a luxury blog with an exclusive UHNW followingwww.LuxGuru.Typepad.com and the only internationally recognized luxury media personality “The Luxury Guru”. Lorre frequently contributes to luxury magazines globally, including having had her own monthly column in Portugal’s #1 rate luxury magazine. For more information just Google her name.

Note: Chicken Little, is a folk tale with a moral in the form of a cumulative tale about a chicken who believes the world is coming to an end. The phrase "The sky is falling!" features prominently in the story, and has passed into the English language as a common idiom indicating a hysterical or mistaken belief that disaster is imminent. Versions of the story go back more than 25 centuries and it continues to be referenced in a variety of media.

By Doron Levy

 

Lorre White, Marketing Expert & Media personality, The Luxury Guru's Word Cloud

Lorre White, the Marketing Expert and International Media Personality's Word Cloud.

 

Word Cloud for Lorre White

 

AND

Download Luxury Guru Word Cloud

(two different ones)

Google's Strange Attack On Bloggers And The Public Internet

Does Google understand the concept of corporate social responsibility? That seems to be the basic question around the company’s strange decision to shut down a tiny service that serves as a major audience conduit for many thousands of bloggers, citizen journalists, and self publishers.

Google’s announcement today that it is destroying Google Reader, the most popular RSS syndication tool was a massive blow to the blogging community – and to most of those speaking out tonight via social media, an entirely unnecessary attack on an important corner of the public Internet by a company with more than $50 billion in revenue and a newly-won reputation as a tech giant on the move.

“That giant “NOOOOOOOO” sound is the Internet’s reaction to Google’s most unpopular decision in — well, as far back as I can remember,” wrote Pete Cashmore at Mashable, in a post emblematic of the flood of negative reaction to Google’s strange decision. “Like a Dagger to Bloggers’ Hearts, Google Just Killed Google Reader” read The Atlantic’s headline. And NBC’s Ann Currytweeted this:

Wonder if #Google Reader be saved if we mass tweet @google with messages to CEO Larry Page?

— Ann Curry (@AnnCurry) March 14, 2013

While some may argue that RSS feeds (for Real Simple Syndication) have fallen from common usage in the social media era, how would Google explain the huge, instantaneous response on Twitter from Google Reader users? “Google Reader” trended almost immediately and instantly replace Google Glass as the most talked about Google product on Twitter. Here’s one of the calmer, more considered tweets:

Google is murdering Google Reader. It is committing appicide. Hate crime. NO GR, NO PEACE

— Jim Aley (@jimaley) March 14, 2013

Even hard-core Google fans (and this writer is an Android user who runs his consulting practice on Google’s platform for files, email, and calendar) were aghast at the lack of self awareness the company seemed to exhibit in its curt notice that it’s axing Google Reader in July. Here’s a typical reaction:

You know how bad the Google Reader outrage is? Even the Google apologists on G+ are pissed. I’ve only seen a handful of Google defenders

— Christina Warren (@film_girl) March 14, 2013

Oddly, the company didn’t seem aware of the firestorm its announcement would create. On the official Google Reader Blog, engineer Alan Green wrote: “We know Reader has a devoted following who will be very sad to see it go. We’re sad too.”

Outrage is more like it. Green wrote that usage had “declined” but any entrepreneur with the kind of loyalty demonstrated in the wake of Reader’s announced shutdown would instantly be financed by a horde of venture capitalists. In short, Google Reader is used and loved by a very loud – and as some would no doubt say, very influential – core user group. Any app builder would kill for this following – any social entrepreneur would walk a thousand miles for this crowd.

And make no mistake, Google Reader is something of an important public accommodation, a real point of differentiation for a company whose motto is “don’t be evil.” Google was doing a public service for the news and blogger community by keeping Reader going. Understandably, the Reader shutdown was received not just as the end of an era but almost as an attack on those who count on it for traffic and attention. Over at Techcrunch, Sarah Perez had this reaction: “Don’t be evil? If that’s the unofficial Google motto, then the company has failed to deliver today. Among the products Google just announced it plans to sunset (read: kill off), beloved feed-reading service Google Reader is now on the chopping block.”

Longtime bloggers like Lance Mannion (a friend and colleague) were melancholy. “I’m not sure but I think it’s going to cost me about 200 readers,” Lance tweeted at me. Bloggers like Mannion don’t enjoy hordes of readers because they’re independents. They prefer a loyal core readership and the communities they’ve built, and managed to keep despite the challenge ofFacebook and Twitter.

Google’s strangely tone deaf move could mean huge upside for others, however – if RSS survives the hit. Here’s what Josh Levy (and many others) wrote about that opportunity.

The loss of Google Reader is a big opportunity – and reminder – to step away from Google and support more indie developers like @feedly

— Joshua Levy (@levjoy) March 14, 2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tom Watson

http://www.forbes.com

Lorre White, The Luxury Guru is pleased to join The Financial Times in partnering with SQUA.RE

@Lorre White, The Luxury Guru is pleased to join The Financial Times in partnering with SQUA.RE

 

FORBES Feature Article on Lorre White, "The Luxury Guru"

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What People Don't Know About Lorre White, 'The Luxury Guru'

 

Lorre White, 'The Luxury Guru'

To most people, Lorre White is an international personality who regularly appears on television, radio and every conceivable form of digital media as “The Luxury Guru.” In this role, she shares her expertise about living a luxurious lifestyle to a mass audience. Her following is large and diverse, from royals and billionaires to those who aspire to live the luxury life to others who just want to look at big, beautiful objects.

But there’s another side to Lorre White that is more discreet. In this role, she is a marketing consultant for companies who target Ultra High Net Worth consumers—the 2 percent of the population that controls half of the world’s wealth. Through her company, White Light Consulting, she provides a range of services that include branding, strategic planning and executive training.

It’s a winning combination for White. And as attitudes about luxury become more democratic and social media brings people closer to the brands, her formula for reaching UHNW individuals, luxury marketers and aspirational luxury consumers should become even more powerful.

“My unique niche is reaching the world’s wealthiest demographic,” she says of her work as a luxury marketing consultant. “My clients are luxury brands that have products and services to sell that require a certain level of wealth to purchase them. Things like a $60 million yacht, or a $120 million private jet. In my consulting work it is not the buyer that I am working with; it is the companies that need to know how to reach and maintain this small and difficult demographic.”

This is also a changing demographic. White says that 92 percent of the world’s wealthiest individuals are self-made and 80 percent of them have had their substantial wealth only 10 years or less. “This means that the ones controlling most of the wealth globally are not brand aware,” she says.

This new reality requires a change in how companies market to these new wealthy consumers.

“Luxury brands that used to just be able to ride on their reputation must now aggressively educate these individuals about their brand,” she says. “These individual did not grow up with the old luxury brands.”

Lorre White with Warren Buffet

For companies that have an exceptional and valuable product or service, it’s a demographic that is worth pursuing.

“The combined Net Worth of the UHNW could pay off the United States deficit ($14 trillion) and still have Net Worth higher than the GDP of the U.S. and China combined and this amount is controlled by less than 200,000 people,” she said.

White’s interest in luxury marketing began more than 20 years ago at Simmons College in Boston when, on her own, she began studying the specific motivations of the wealthy. At the time it was an unknown field of study. She continued to pursue this market by first forming an events marketing and planning agency for wealthy clients that included the NFL and American Express.

White soon found even more success in the private aviation business, first with SeaGate Travel, helping it to become the 10th largest travel company in the U.S. with a private charter division. She followed this by becoming head of global marketing for private aviation partnership, NetJets/Marquis Jets BBJ program, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. This is a short list of her experience and accomplishments.

As “The Luxury Guru,” she spreads the world of luxury to a much broader audience through broadcast media, online videos, a number of social media platforms, magazine columns and articles in publications throughout the world, and on her blog (www.LuxGuru.Typepad.com). Primarily through social media her popularity has grown organically from the U.S. to Europe to the U.A.E.

The way luxury is viewed has changed greatly over the past few years and White, in her dual roles, is able to benefit. The snobbish appeal has largely disappeared and White says that’s a good thing. “Snobbery by definition is not being luxorious.” In addition, digital media has redefined how consumers and luxury brands communicate with one another. In addition, the model of the luxury brand as the temple that is the ultimate high authority is largely coming to an end.

Lorre White boarding a private jet

White knows that most low price point luxuries like fashion, perfumes, skin care, cosmetics and candles rely on 80 percent of their sales from aspirational consumers. So when presenting to general audiences, she often talks about these more affordable items.

“My information to the consumer is free. If people cannot afford a yacht, they can still watch a video or read an article I wrote on it,” she says. “It does not hurt anyone to share in the education, the advertisers and sponsors of low price-point luxuries like fashion…. I supply positive educational entertainment.”

For luxury professionals, she provides free research and tips for companies on attracting and marketing to luxury consumers.

“The articles I write and share for free help many small companies that cannot afford to hire an expert,” she says. “I get letters of gratitude all the time from small companies that say they turned their businesses around by following my advice and articles. I think it is great that I have been able to help so many.”

Finally, for those who have made it and are inexperienced at enjoying their wealth to the fullest, White’s blog and other online activities provide a safe, secure source of inside information about luxury. Her followers are predominantly UHNW (private jet owning) individuals that sign up to get information from her blog daily. They include royals, billionaires and other very noteworthy names. White says there are very few media sources that have this reach.

“This is why companies like Rolls-Royce had me do the very first personal interview with their global CEO; because they want to reach my audience. This is something very rare.”

 

 

 

 

Anthony DeMarco

http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonydemarco/2013/01/17/what-people-dont-know-about-lorre-white-the-luxury-guru/

To Down Load Article:     Download    What People Don_t Know About Lorre White, _The Luxury Guru_ - Forbes (4)

 

 

"Defining Luxury" a Celebrity Interview with Luxury Expert Lorre White

Download Lorre White Water Front Celebrity Feature

These days, the term ‘luxury’ is banded around by almost every sector of marketing. It seems like each budding seller, from brand marketers to shop floor retailers, uses the buzzword ‘luxury’ to enhance the relevance of their product in an effort to convince eager customers that they are getting the very best.

Indeed, in the mass market, of whom this strategy is truly focused, ‘luxury’ is almost entirely synonymous with the equally beguiling term ‘sale’. Although the L word has proved a great selling tool when aiming at those wanting a more affordable route to the high life, in the real world of luxury, the word ‘sale’ simply does not exist.

 

Promotional sales - even of respected brands - tweak at the aspirations of those wanting to sneak into the masquerade ball of real luxury. But ultra-high-net-worth-individuals (with a minimum of £20 million in liquid assets), expecting a true luxury brand, will fervently expect to pay the price of admission.

 

There is a flip side however, as 80% of the world’s uber-rich have risen to prominence in the last decade, due to the mass market’s dilution of the bona fide  luxury sector, and the resulting confusion around what ‘luxury’ really means; respected brands need to uphold their standards to make sure they continue to target the right customers.

 

Especially in the current economical climate, even the most prestigious brands can fall into the trap of cheapening their name in search of a fast pay out. For international brands, the hundreds of thousands saved, can later mean hundreds of millions lost in previously established brand image. Such a misdemeanor can happen in one fell marketing swoop and the consequences can irrevocably shatter a company.

 

Rescuing the real luxury sector from the mass marketing abyss is something which the aptly named Luxury Guru, Lorre White has worked on for two decades. As CEO for White Light Consulting, her expertise have lead to her being known across the world as a luxury expert on CNN.MONEY, ABC, NBC, FOX National, Sirius Radio and various other magazines, alongside running The Luxury Channel video podcasts on iTunes and Zune.

 

In discussing her work, Lorre states, “My unique niche it reaching the world’s wealthiest demographic. I am a luxury marketing consultant and my clients are luxury brands that  have products and services to sell that require a certain level of wealth to purchase them, things like $60 million yacht, or $120 million private jet. In my consulting work it is not the end user [buyer] that I am working with; it is the companies that need to know how to reach and maintain this small and difficult demographic.”

 

With past credentials including top marketing jobs with some of the most prestigious private aviation companies, Lorre appears regularly on American TV,  giving insight into the very best products available from perfume to private jets.

 

Over in the UK however, we can struggle to find direct access to the real  luxury market through our TV sets or online blogs. Maybe it’s the recession, but most small screen shopping guides focus on saving every penny rather than showcasing absolute luxury. But White insists that even in this time of economical unrest, the luxury market continues to boom, as her followers gravitate  round more online formats in favour of the regional limitations posed by TV.

 

“There are two types of Luxury Consumers: The aspirational and the UHNW  ultrahigh- net-worth], or as I call them, ‘the already arrived’. The fashion industry depends on the first category for up to 80% of their sales. This is why the fashion industry was hit so much harder in the global recession than the private jet companies which have exclusively clients and so they are not as affected  by the slowdown in the economy. The truly rich can lose half of their net worth and still be rich. If you’re worth a billion and you lose half of it, you’re still not skipping any meals or pulling your kids out of school to help support the family.”

 

Once money is taken out of the equation, the real luxury to the UHNW  individual is their precious time. As any successful business figure would agree, a hectic work schedule can mean there simply is no time to keep up to date  and Lorre’s TV work alongside her regularly updated website (www.LuxGuru.Typepad.com) allow her cash rich/time poor followers to easily access the world of ultimate luxury.

 

Although her insightful media ventures can guide the new money ultra rich in to how to spend their fortune, her work with  some of the world’s top brands has helped them maintain their quality instead of creating more affordable products to  appeal to the top end of the mass market.

 

In the luxury world, you will never be higher on the scale than when you launch. It takes much more money up front to reach this group. It is not like a mass market where you can tweak things and improve them along the way. You cannot launch mid level and put more money into it later when the business gets rolling and climb into a luxury status.”

 

One example which Lorre reflects upon is that of American leather goods artisans, Coach, and their desire to tap  into the same market as iconic French fashion house, Louis Vuitton.

 

After investing in a select design team and a whole new production line, Coach, which was previously known for selling quality women’s purses for around $200, attempted to create a luxury range with a $3,000 price tag. Needless to say, the venture  ailed, as White says, “For someone skilled in luxury marketing, the reason is obvious. What woman is going to spend $3,000 on a purse that when anyone looks at it, they see a $200 purse because of the brand’s image? Coach sells frequently in outlet stores, so their products are often available at sale prices. You  will not find any sale on LV purses. True luxury brands, managed by skilled class marketers, know that you never put your products on sale.”

 

Adamantly  ticking to her marketing strategies, Lorre is a proud believer that in true elite luxury branding, it is more important to have a Chief Marketing Office rather  than   Chief Financial Officer.

 

Interestingly, in perfecting a brand, she sees the importance of the right marketing psychology, “Many self proclaimed luxury sites give  hotel and travel and product recommendations, but the person doing the evaluation does not understand the higher expectations of this group. Unless they have been trained, they are probably bringing their aspirational perspective to the evaluation. What may seem incredible to them may be a disappointment to  a group that is accustomed to more.”

 

Certainly it is the person making the recommendations who really is paramount when guiding sales and Lorre White has  ot only found real luxury, but has also harnessed the knowledge of how to maintain it. With such an unequalled reputation, as her esteemed UHNW clients will  now, when shopping for real luxury, if you haven’t heard of Lorre White, then you’re just browsing. 

 

 

For more information on Lorre White or to receive regular updates from across the luxury world, visit www.LuxGuru.Typepad.com Twitter: “Lorre”

 

Waterfront is a luxury lifestyle publication delivered monthly to a unique network of exclusive hotels and resorts, airports, businesses and residential addresses. Waterfront is delivered to the VIP airport lounges of all the major airlines in the UK, being read by the wealthy travellers in the First, Club and Business Class lounges of the likes of Virgin, Emerites, BA, American Airlines and Eurostar's terminals in London, Paris and Belgium.
The publication is also delivered to homes in the Northwest region and London, geographical areas renowned for containing the highest concentration of millionaires in the UK.

 

goes to (pages 12-13) of Aug issue #51

http://content.yudu.com/A1xnmc/WaterfrontIssue51/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl

 

Chanel awarded top mobile site for availability, reliability: study

Chanel's mobile site in France

Chanel’s mobile-optimized Web site in France has received the top honors in a study by Keynote Systems that lauds the fashion label for its simple, sleek site that showed its design elegance while remaining completely available to customers.

Chanel was followed by Amazon’s German site and Aldi’s German site in Keynote’s “Mobile  Retail International Summer Games.” Load time and reliability were the key differentiators in this study.

“Mobile commerce is expected to grow to more than 24 percent of online revenue by 2017 and yet there are only a handful of global retailers providing a fast and reliable mobile experience,” said Tim Murphy, senior manager of mobile quality at Keynote Systems, San Mateo, CA.

“Most users want a Web site to download within five seconds and a full two-thirds expect a sub-four second download,” he said. “Going beyond revenue, it is important to realize that smartphone users are also using their devices to look for store location, read review and research products.

 

“Brands should follow Chanel’s lead and figure out a way to have a sleek site that follows design best practices, and then take steps to make sure it is up and available around the clock.”

Chanel for the gold
Chanel’s site in France was available 100 percent of the time, according to the study. It also received a 4.94-second load time to give it an overall score of 994 out of 1,000, according to the study.

Chanel’s mobile site in France

“Chanel has created a very nice-looking mobile site that quickly directs users to the content most relevant to someone on the go,” Mr. Murphy said. “It has resisted the temptation to add a lot of large rich images that desktop users like, but that ruin the experience in mobile because of the time needed to download over a wireless network.

“Also, it has maintained 100-percent availability in that not only has it created a mobile-friendly design, but its operations teams are probably paying attention to their server infrastructure to keep things running smoothly around the clock,” he said.

Amazon’s Germany site was available 99.7 percent of the time. This reliability, in addition to its 5.09-second load time, gave it a score of 976.

Amazon’s mobile site in Germany

Retailer Aldi’s Germany site also had a 99.7 percent availability, but its 5.48-second load time bumped it to third place.

“There are other luxury marketers doing some pretty cool Web design, but Chanel made the list as an icon of the French experience and a site that stands out not only among luxury brands but all global retailers out there,” Mr. Murphy said.

Reliability matters
Site reliability is actually the No. 1 most-frustrating mobile Web experience with consumers.

In Keynote’s report, two-thirds of smartphone users said that Web pages were too slow to load, while the other one-half cited that sites were not optimized for smartphones.

Also, 48 percent of desktop Web users want download speeds faster than two seconds, while 60 percent of tablet respondents expect to wait less than three seconds to get to a Web site.

However, smartphone user expectancies are high. Approximately 64 percent want a site to load within four seconds while 82 percent of respondents want a mobile site to load within five seconds.

A desire for faster download speeds makes sense, since about 25 percent of smartphone users spend one to two hours browsing the Web from their mobile devices.

Affluent individuals are more likely to be able to buy the latest smartphone or tablet, which is why it makes sense for luxury marketers to optimize for mobile, no matter where they are in the world.

Indeed, 16 percent of mobile users will not return or wait for a site to load if it takes too long. Furthermore, 6 percent will go to a competitor’s site, Keynote said.

“Brands do not always appreciate that content needs for a mobile site are inherently different than for the desktop,” Mr. Murphy said. “Users have different needs and a lot of rich content can really slow things down and slow downloads are the No. 1 point of frustration on the mobile Web.

“Further, some companies develop sites that do not anticipate the need for ongoing maintenance,” he said. “Mobile users are driving traffic at all times of the day, so it is important that retailers have a strategy for 24 / 7 performance monitoring.

“Since many bricks-and-mortar shoppers have smartphones in hand, not figuring a mobile experience can impact a brand and hurt sales in other channels.”

 

 

 

 

By Rachel Lamb

http://www.luxurydaily.com

"Defining Luxury", New feature on Lorre White, "The Luxury Guru" is out in the 51 issue (Aug) of the UK's luxury magazine Water Front.

New feature on Lrre White, "The Luxury Guru" is out in the 51 issue (Aug) of the UK's luxury magazine Water Front.

 (pages 12-13)

http://content.yudu.com/A1xnmc/WaterfrontIssue51/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl

 

Waterfront is a luxury lifestyle publication delivered monthly to a unique network of exclusive hotels and resorts, airports, businesses and residential addresses. Waterfront is delivered to the VIP airport lounges of all the major airlines in the UK, being read by the wealthy travellers in the First, Club and Business Class lounges of the likes of Virgin, Emerites, BA, American Airlines and Eurostar's terminals in London, Paris and Belgium.
The publication is also delivered to homes in the Northwest region and London, geographical areas renowned for containing the highest concentration of millionaires in the UK.

 

                                                                                        *******

 

Download Lorre White Water Front Celebrity Feature

Direct to article "Defining Luxury"

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From perfume to private jets - The world’s top ‘Luxury Guru’, Lorre White,
tells Matthew Fairhurst exactly what it takes to reach true luxury

 

T hese days, the term ‘luxury’ is
banded around by almost every
sector of marketing. It seems like
each budding seller, from brand
marketers to shop floor retailers, uses the
buzzword ‘luxury’ to enhance the relevance of
their product in an effort to convince eager
customers that they are getting the very best.
Indeed, in the mass market, of whom this
strategy is truly focused, ‘luxury’ is almost
entirely synonymous with the equally beguiling
term ‘sale’. Although the L word has proved a
great selling tool when aiming at those wanting
a more affordable route to the high life, in the
real world of luxury, the word ‘sale’ simply does
not exist.
Promotional sales - even of respected brands
- tweak at the aspirations of those wanting to
sneak into the masquerade ball of real luxury.
But ultra-high-net-worth-individuals (with
a minimum of £20 million in liquid assets),
expecting a true luxury brand, will fervently
expect to pay the price of admission.
There is a flip side however, as 80% of the
world’s uber-rich have risen to prominence
in the last decade, due to the mass market’s
dilution of the bona fide luxury sector, and the
resulting confusion around what ‘luxury’ really
means; respected brands need to uphold their
standards to make sure they continue to target
the right customers.
Especially in the current economical climate,
even the most prestigious brands can fall into
the trap of cheapening their name in search
of a fast pay out. For international brands,
the hundreds of thousands saved, can later
mean hundreds of millions lost in previously
established brand image. Such a misdemeanour
can happen in one fell marketing swoop and the
consequences can irrevocably shatter a company.
Rescuing the real luxury sector from the mass
marketing abyss is something which the aptly
named Luxury Guru, Lorre White has worked
on for two decades. As CEO for White Light
Consulting, her expertise have lead to her being
known across the world as a luxury expert on
CNN.MONEY, ABC, NBC, FOX National,
Sirius Radio and various other magazines,
alongside running The Luxury Channel video
podcasts on iTunes and Zune.
In discussing her work, Lorre states, “My
unique niche it reaching the world’s wealthiest
demographic. I am a luxury marketing
consultant and my clients are luxury brands that
have products and services to sell that require a
certain level of wealth to purchase them, things
like $60 million yacht, or $120 million private
jet. In my consulting work it is not the end
user [buyer] that I am working with; it is the
companies that need to know how to reach and
maintain this small and difficult demographic.”
With past credentials including top marketing
jobs with some of the most prestigious privateaviation companies, Lorre appears regularly on
American TV, giving insight into the very best
products available from perfume to private jets.
Over in the UK however, we can struggle
to find direct access to the real luxury market
through our TV sets or online blogs. Maybe it’s
the recession, but most small screen shopping
guides focus on saving every penny rather than
showcasing absolute luxury. But White insists
that even in this time of economical unrest, the
luxury market continues to boom, as her followers
gravitate around more online formats in favour of
the regional limitations posed by TV.
“There are two types of Luxury Consumers:
The aspirational and the UHNW [ultrahigh-
net-worth], or as I call them, ‘the already
arrived’. The fashion industry depends on the
first category for up to 80% of their sales. This
is why the fashion industry was hit so much
harder in the global recession than the private
jet companies which have exclusively clients
and so they are not as affected by the slowdown
in the economy. The truly rich can lose half of
their net worth and still be rich. If you’re worth
a billion and you lose half of it, you’re still not
skipping any meals or pulling your kids out of
school to help support the family.”
Once money is taken out of the equation, the
real luxury to the UHNW individual is their
precious time. As any successful business figure
would agree, a hectic work schedule can mean
there simply is no time to keep up to date and
Lorre’s TV work alongside her regularly updated
website (www.LuxGuru.Typepad.com) allow
her cash rich/time poor followers to easily access
the world of ultimate luxury.
Although her insightful media ventures can
guide the new money ultra rich in to how to spend
their fortune, her work with some of the world’s
top brands has helped them maintain their quality
instead of creating more affordable products to
appeal to the top end of the mass market.
“In the luxury world, you will never be higher
on the scale than when you launch. It takes
much more money up front to reach this group.
It is not like a mass market where you can tweak
things and improve them along the way. You
cannot launch mid level and put more money
into it later when the business gets rolling and
climb into a luxury status.”
One example which Lorre reflects upon is
that of American leather goods artisans, Coach,
and their desire to tap into the same market as
iconic French fashion house, Louis Vuitton.
After investing in a select design team and a
whole new production line, Coach, which was
previously known for selling quality women’s
purses for around $200, attempted to create a
luxury range with a $3,000 price tag. Needless
to say, the venture failed, as White says, “For
someone skilled in luxury marketing, the
reason is obvious. What woman is going to
spend $3,000 on a purse that when anyone
looks at it, they see a $200 purse because of the
brand’s image? Coach sells frequently in outlet
stores, so their products are often available at
sale prices. You will not find any sale on LV
purses. True luxury brands, managed by skilled
class marketers, know that you never put your
products on sale.”
Adamantly sticking to her marketing
strategies, Lorre is a proud believer that in true
elite luxury branding, it is more important to
have a Chief Marketing Office rather than a
Chief Financial Officer.Interestingly, in perfecting a brand, she
sees the importance of the right marketing
psychology, “Many self proclaimed luxury
sites give hotel and travel and product
recommendations, but the person doing the
evaluation does not understand the higher
expectations of this group. Unless they have
been trained, they are probably bringing their
aspirational perspective to the evaluation.
What may seem incredible to them may be a
disappointment to a group that is accustomed
to more.”
Certainly it is the person making the
recommendations who really is paramount
when guiding sales and Lorre White has not
only found real luxury, but has also harnessed
the knowledge of how to maintain it. With
such an unequalled reputation, as her esteemed
UHNW clients will know, when shopping for
real luxury, if you haven’t heard of Lorre White,
then you’re just browsing.

 

For more information on Lorre White
or to receive regular updates from across
the luxury world, visit
www.LuxGuru.Typepad.com

Lorre White, "The Luxury Guru" Power Point Slide Presentation

Download Lorre White Presentation 15 February 2012 - Copy

 

Lorre White, "The Luxury Guru" (www.LuxGuru.Typepad.com) is one of the only sites for the already arrived UHNW, not the aspirational consumer.

If you know of Martha (Stewart) you are probably part of the 98%....if you 
know of Lorre (White), you are most likely part of the top 2% financially.  Lorre White is to the wealthy, what Martha Stewart is to the middle class.  “Lorre White, “The Luxury Guru”, is one of the rare sites that target the UHNW exclusively, and the ONLY luxury site with an identifiable, trusted, and experienced luxury expert personality. www.LuxGuru.Typepad.com

 Go ahead….just Google the name!

Her TV, web, radio, and magazine fans, are predominantly very wealthy.  They have an interest in learning about the best luxuries in every category.  They trust “The Luxury Guru”, Lorre White to do the collecting of interesting and informational articles about luxury that is specifically relevant to their UHNW wants/needs.  Her luxury blog is unique, as it is the only source of luxury news with a trusted identifiable and qualified luxury professional, Lorre White.  She has the trust factor with the UHNW demographic.  The information targets the already arrived, not the aspirational consumer that most every other site is able to reach. They spend the time to read her blog because they trust that the time will be well spent….and their time has great value.  MS White started in the US, but her popularity has grown organically globally and her media reach now includes a monthly column in a European luxury magazine with over 1.2 million in distribution.

 

Ms White’s years of experience in private aviation from SeaGate Travel (the 10^th largest travel company in the US with a private charter division), one of the creators of the NBA airline (used by the White House staff & reporters off season), head of global marketing for NetJets/Marquis Jets BBJ program, and as a luxury marketing consultant to many luxury brands
www.WhiteLightConsulting.net  including several private jet companies, yacht companies, marketing the syndication of thoroughbred racehorses, etc., has resulted in her having a large private wealthy jet set following. 

 

She has a very wealthy international following.  It is one of the few sites for the already arrived UHNW, not the aspirational consumer.  The Luxury Guru site covers both the business of luxury as well as the newest and best items in the luxury sector.   www.LuxGuru.Typepad.com

Sign up on the top left under the black & white photo or Twitter: “Lorre”, for Luxury.