Lady LUX

Chloé has gone high-tech! Not only did it live-stream its spring runway show, held in the Shanghai Expo Center, on its main website, the brand intends to launch a global e-commerce site.

This is all part of the company’s new Web-based strategy, which includes a Chinese-language blog, jesuischloe.com, launched a few months ago and alleged to be the first of its kind from a Western luxe brand. It has generated, in this short time, more than 40,000 visitors. With more than 400 million Internet surfers in China, and most middle-class shoppers online, this number is only expected to grow.

“It is a test, and it is a way to actually innovate,” Chloé chief executive officer Geoffroy de la Bourdonnaye said to WWD of the Chinese blog. “There is no grand plan of doing something with it other than allowing the customers who love Chloé to connect with us and participate in the event in an interactive way.”

The numbers make it key for brands to build a customer base on the Chinese Internet. However, the in-store opportunities are also crucial to Chinese shoppers, according to a 2010 KPMG study, which also noted the importance of blogs in selling luxury products.

Chloé, which has had a presence in China now for five years, is expected to have 13 stores in China by year’s end, with the nation most likely ousting Japan as Chloe’s top market in the next couple of years.

So far, de la Bourdonnaye reported that the brand has made little headway in increasing its e-commerce beyond Western consumers, which he blamed on a dearth of appropriate partners.

“Honestly, the quality of the experience online has to be comparable to the quality of the experience on the street,” de la Bourdonnaye said to WWD. “That is why we are not in e-commerce in Japan.”

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