• by Kyle Priest , September 12, 2012

There is nothing as magical in the luxury goods space as a change of seasons. New product launches, fashion shows, breakthrough technologies, traditional craftsmanship and distant finds all take a back seat to the powerful force that is a change of seasons.

And just as the circadian rhythm drives our internal clocks, the change of seasons drives the traditions of our industry.

The web, mobile, interactive, digital signage, augmented reality, and all other digital media have only augmented and enhanced the opportunities to engage and excite consumers.

This season, we are seeing a more mature digital messaging push than ever. Companies are now leveraging personalized, direct communication to establish more relevant, timely offers. And, as the fall winds blow, and the leaves start to turn, we are finding that an omni-channel approach to more engaged push-marketing has been ushered into marketers' and e-tailers' aresenals.

Are you ready for the Fall? Is your brand pushing personalized, relevant content and offers? Is your in-store print and digital experience connected to the entire shopper journey?

This season, be a student of the game, and take risks.  Mobile devices are ubiquitous among affluent shoppers and their need for easy, speedy, valuable tools are high.  

Five Key Trends for Fall/Winter:

1. Be Pushy.  Push-messaging to consumers that contain timely, relevant offers right to the mobile device is critical to long-term consumer relationships. It also has the added benefit of driving immediate action.
   
   
2. Don't Fence Yourself In. Consumer behavior is changing relative to geographic zones. Where time is precious and drive times have shrunk over the years, we know that the high-end segment (and even mainstream) people will go further than ever when an e-tail/retail experience sends them to the store for the pickup. Savvy companies will maintain this discipline, and extend beyond the traditional zip codes/geographic fences leveraging social media, digital messaging, push communications and web-based promotion.
   
   
3. Content Management is the Real King. We all know content itself was the king. Consumers remain enamored with the dreams and aspirations that affluent brands bring to us in photography, interactive media, and products themselves. The increased interactions with media require more content than ever, and more personalized content. Creating the content is one thing, but actually leveraging an effective business process and technical platform to leverage content across an omni-channel consumer experience is now a must for virtually all major brands.
   
   
4. Know your consumers. It's not sexy or sophisticated; it's just the world we live in. It's vital to develop personal relationships with consumers in ways that are inclusive, not exclusive of your retail/e-tail partners. Brand affinity must be known and understood, and web-based transactions and browsing/interaction behaviors can be understood.  The more you understand the end-users' behaviors, the more relevant you can become in digital communication.
   
   
5. It's "Christmas" every day. The holiday season creates a digital chance to remain engaged in a relevant annualized way. Ensure you are tying your lifecycle marketing to the relative purchases the holidays bring. Dads buying moms affluent gifts are an opportunity to capture that same man at Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, wife's birthday and again at holiday. This is not rocket science. But knowing enough about "who" is buying and capturing the details of the purchases, then leveraging digital technology to send "reminders to get the wife a great present" might just increase the value of this individual 400% per year. 

So, as you turn your attention to ensuring maximum sell-through this Fall/Winter and begin working on a breakthrough Spring, remap your consumer personas and segments against the channels by which they interact offline and online, and rethink the your strategies to increase engagement and captivate your customers with valuable tools for multi-channel shopping in this omni-channel world in which we live.