WEBVTT

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The shopper journey has changed even for
luxury buyers.

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We're joined by Raakhi from BCG.

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Welcome.

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You look an awful lot of the luxury
market.

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Everybody thinks of luxury in terms of,
you know, exclusivity, craft,

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something really specially worked on.

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How on earth does GenAI

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fit into that world?

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Yeah, good question.

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I mean,
I think this is something that everybody

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is thinking about,
including the luxury leaders

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that I've spoken to and we've
interviewed and surveyed.

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And the thing is, what we found is,
it doesn't need to take away from the

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craft of luxury or the storytelling of
luxury.

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If done the right way,
AI and GenAI can enhance it.

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So for example, you know,
something that is really important in luxury

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is that human touch that a sales
associate gives to what they call their

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VICs or their top, or VVICs,
their top 1% of of their customers.

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And so this is like, you know,
if you think about it, old school,

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black book.

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Let me write the preferences,
let me tailor to them,

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let me WhatsApp or let me message them
one to one.

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This can only be done for a max of 30
clients.

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GenAI and AI can enable these sales
associates, as an example,

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just to scale that type of communication,
be able to track all the preferences and

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interests of somebody.

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It's really that team member,
that invisible intelligence behind them

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that is really helping them connect on a
human level and,

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and be able to tell the story in a
personalized way.

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And how do you scale it up so that you're
doing it to so many more than just the

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top 30 people?

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How do you scale it up without
compromising on quality so that, you know,

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people still feel like it's an individual
message they're receiving,

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somebody's looking out for them.

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The quality of the interaction itself.
So it won't necessarily,

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and you could do this,

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you could have an automated message go
out and you can have automated messages

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that are personalized.

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You could also have AI prompting the
sales associate, saying hey,

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this new line came in,
you put in your notes that Penny was

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interested in the spring line of these
bags.

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You should send a message inviting her
into the boutique. As an example.

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So that way it still feels like their
human that they know is messaging them

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one to one with something relevant to
them.

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I mean think about it.

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Most brands,
after you go purchase a high-quality

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luxury product,
spending thousands of euros or dollars on it

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they get some e-mail from the brand

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that's not personalized,
it's just generic.

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Basically a newsletter, right?

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Think about how nice it would be to have
a follow up that's tailored to you and

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your interaction that you had in the
store or online.

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So this can actually increase the luxury
experience?

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I think so.

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I mean,
what we found in our survey was 56% of

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luxury buyers today are not satisfied
with their experience.

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Yes,
and I think this has a lot to do with the

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fact that the industry right now caters
to those VVICs,

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but they're missing out on the VICs and
this will really help them scale.

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We also know that the,
the shopper journey has changed even for

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luxury buyers.

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Yes, 64% of them still shop in stores,
but we know that many of them are

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increasingly shopping online, about 38%,
and they do a lot of their research

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pre-and post-purchase online as well.

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So we have to meet them where they are in
that experience.

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How do you advise luxury brands who are
looking to take on this sort of

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technology?

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How do you advise them to do it in a way
that will boost their,

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their businesses but without in any way
compromising on the quality that people

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expect from from those brands?

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Absolutely.

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I think there are a couple things.

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Luxury in general has been slow adopters
of technology.

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They were later to e-commerce,
later to putting their brands online.

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But they did come eventually, right?

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There were some leaders and some laggards.

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I think right now we see them
experimenting with this invisible part,

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invisible intelligence.

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How do I, but not to the sales associate,
interestingly enough,

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it's more about inventory planning.

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It's more about supply-chain management
and what they should be doing or thinking

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about doing is,
how does this translate to the customer

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experience and what are the ways I can
invest in that to increase revenue?

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And what we encourage is not doing some
little POCs, just fully jumping in,

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saying this is going to be a part of what
I do.

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This is an extension of my team and this
is going to empower every sales associate

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that I train in my stores and my online
presence to meet the luxury customer

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where they are.

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Raakhi,
thanks so much for talking to us about

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everything luxury.

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I appreciate it.

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It's been a real pleasure.

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Thank you.