The Liminal Luxurian – a view from the edge of luxury

15: The luxury shopping experience

Chatting recently with a dear friend visiting from overseas, I was reminded of my perfect luxury shopping experience, which I have recounted many times over the years. I’m visiting my favourite luxury brand (they shall remain nameless), where they know that I always like to be left on my own for a few minutes as I meander round and see if there’s anything that catches my eye before I home in on the thing I know I’m actually here to purchase. At that point, I like an assistant to come up and say ‘Hi Chris, nice to see you back again; is there anything I can help you with? I like to be served sparkling water and offered a cup of black Darjeeling tea.?

On this particular foray, I am out of luck as the trousers that have taken my fancy aren’t available in my size and the size up just doesn’t fit properly, and I am long enough in the tooth not to buy clothes that don’t fit properly – no matter how much a I crave them. It’s taken thirty years of retail faux pas to reach this point, but I’m there now (Black Friday bargain hunters take heed). I sigh, bid my adieus and after some gossip and chat, leave.

A business trip takes me overseas a few weeks later and I find myself in the centre of the city with a few hours to spare; I wander past my favourite boutique and then decide to have a look in. I do my usual thing of taking a few moments to check out the store and get a sense of how it feels before moving in on the area most likely to contain the aforementioned prize. I’m met by a smiling member of the sales team, who introduces themselves and welcomes me to this store, which I’ve never visited before. ‘It’s lovely to have you here with us’, they say. ‘Sorry you weren’t able to find what you wanted recently; however, I’m delighted to say that those trousers you tried on, we’ve got them here and I hope in the right size; I’ve taken the liberty of putting a pair in the changing room for you – can I offer you a cup of tea?’ What perfect customer service, I recount.

My friend – a wealthy, highly successful one – then shares their recent retail episode. They buy a lot of Prada. When I say ‘a lot’, I mean Highest Spender in one of their most popular stores in Italy ‘a lot’. When they visit this particular store, their appointment is preceded with notes, flowers at their hotel; recognition and gratitude for their patronage means gifts at Christmas; regular WhatsApps with new product drops and permission to wander the store after hours –including back of house for a good rummage around the shelves, hangers and boxes for overlooked treasures (that’s real luxury right there).

They divulged that they were recently in NYC and visited Prada there. But on this visit, no smiles of recognition, no flowers, no offers of champagne and definitely no rummaging. They were greeted with a curt request to queue outside and then treated to the offhand complacency now sadly prevalent in so many luxury boutiques around the world – I experienced this myself in Hermès in Venice the other day.

The only reason they put up with this lacklustre and off-hand service was that there was a particular item they were after which they knew this particular store had. It wasn’t until they had patiently waited and then queued and were at the point of paying that the store EFTPOS recognised them for who they were – a highly valued VVIC. ‘It was as if an alarm system had gone off’, they told me. ‘Suddenly there was a swarm of sales personnel, a store manager appeared from nowhere, all smiles; I was offered a sofa and practically a three-course meal – but too late! All too late…’

What we both opined was the failure to be recognised by a brand to which we were, in our hearts and minds, committed – there was an emotional bond there which we were expecting to be recognised and rewarded. Once upon a time, pre globalisation, pre the democratisation of luxury and its march towards universal domination and presence, we had distinct and very personal relationships with our tailors, couturiers, and other makers, who not only knew more about ourselves than they cared to admit through their intimate engagement with our bodies, but recognised the value of our patronage.

Let’s return to my retail encounter. What a great shopping experience. What a dream. And, sadly, it was just that – a retail fantasy I often conjure up as I walk around most establishments in a state of abject exclusion and boredom. How magical it would be if that’s how phygital retail happened – seamless, appropriate, engaging and above all satisfying (phygital by the way, is a portmanteau created by The Future Laboratory). And yet none of this need be magic – the coalescing of the physical retail offer and digital opportunity makes all of the recognition, reward and relationship building possible.

Because ultimately, that’s all good retail is about:

Recognition + reward = relationship

Relationship fosters loyalty, which creates genuine, mutually profitable and satisfying, long term relationships. It really can be that simple.

Time to go shopping.

If your brand’s retail experience and customer service engagement is anything less than spiritually uplifting, why not drop me a line? I’m here to help…

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