Think Tank: For the Next Luxury Off-line Store, It's Back to the Future

The online shopping boom has shaken luxury brands so much that most have spent the last four years investing massively in e-commerce It seemed that online sales would inexorably overtake those of physical retail But according to industry insiders and 10 senior executives at Farfetch, Hermès, MB&F, Chalhoub Group, Zimmerli, Compagnie Financière Richemont, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton,[1] that sentiment is shifting — back to physical stores In the age of the omnichannel, the emerging consensus is that physical stores are again becoming the centerpiece of customer experience.

Indeed, online commerce is expected to plateau at a 25 percent market share by 2025,[2] and despite apocalyptic headlines about store closures, the reality is that openings are outpacing closures of experiential retail and luxury stores.[3] Yet, with an average Net Promoter Score of 26.4 percent in luxury, executives realize changes are needed.[4] Spending fortunes on building digital-brand awareness and click-and-collect solutions only to . More