Can digital be luxury? Until very recently, most consumers and luxury companies would have said no. Luxury is about exclusivity, whereas digital about making products, data, and knowledge accessible — the two would seem to be mutually exclusive. According to this logic digital is only ever going to be a channel or, at best, an add-on supplementing and amplifying a physical product or experience.
How Luxury Brands Are Manufacturing Scarcity in the Digital Economy
Lessons from Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton, and Gucci.
January 28, 2022
Summary.
Traditional luxury goods companies have treated digital as a channel. But they’re now starting to treat it as a marketplace in its own right, thanks largely to Blockchain technology, which has delivered the Non-Fungible Token. Today, the key ingredients of luxury – rarity, exclusivity, and cost — can also apply to virtual products, as companies like Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton, and Gucci have realized.
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