Is the luxury industry finally catching up online?

Abstract: The nature of luxury has undergone several changes in the last decades. Fromthe pure functional meaning, to a highly individual matter and shifted to anexperiential luxury paradigm. New generations emerge with new needs anddesires, where much of the luxury appeal defines the category from theconsumer's point of view, the experience of luxury, rather than ownership of theluxury item. The real luxury in today's sometimes difficult financial environment,is to have alternatives of where, when and how to spend you money.Enter luxury online.Several luxury brands have started targeting the mainstream, or middle market,in search for growth where Internet serves as an optimal marketing and salesvehicle. But is it possible to bend the basic principles of the Internet and turn itinto a platform for displaying and distributing luxury items, while respectingtheir sense of the unattainable and unaffordable The author of this paper finds this phenomenon interesting, as there seems to becontradicting to the core definition of luxury and where the hesitation to theInternet has been understandable. Thus, the purpose of this thesis is tounderstand the process that luxury brands have undergone, and seek to developa framework for future recommendations.The paper is based on theoretical framework and starts with a thoroughunderstanding on what defines luxury and the Internet, followed by case studiescombining the two. Luxury and Internet seem to be a compatible match as theweb and social media are unavoidable tools nowadays.