Dior: History and the Omnichannel Experience
The Ask
The ask of this paper was to select a luxury fashion house, and conduct primary research to compare and contrast their in person shopping experience to their online shopping experience. The goal was to analyze their omnichannel experience, as well as familiarize yourself with the history of the House selected.
Skills
Luxury Market Literacy
Comparative Omnichannel Analysis
Brand Analysis
Academic Writing
Primary Research
Planning and Coordinating
Process
The first step in this project began in Richmond, with selecting a major luxury fashion house to research. This class was part of a 4 week intensive Summer Luxury Program. We started in Richmond at VCU campus, where I researched the history of Dior as a brand, including their ownership and impact. I spent time familiarizing myself with their online retail experience, where I discovered that the brand was split up into two subsidiaries: clothing and makeup.
After a week in Richmond, my class and I went up to New York where we had several site visits and meetings with luxury executives from places like Saks 5th Avenue, Saks Off Fifth, Hermes, and other businesses that are integral to the luxury market. During the two weeks we spent staying in the heart of New York at the dorms at FIT, it was our responsibility to seek out a physical location of the brand we were researching. I went to the physical Dior on 5th Avenue, where I had booked an appointment with a sales associate to ask questions about how people prefer to shop in person or online, and general business questions. It was here that I found out that Dior Beauty was an entirely separate entity, and in order to find their products I would have to go across the street to Bergdorf Goodman.
After several times visiting multiple locations of Dior stores, and continuing to navigate and research their online retailing, I compiled my research into a comparative analysis of Dior’s omnichannel experience. I began with introducing the history of the brand itself, starting with Christian Dior to present day, as well as describing key impactful products that helped launch the brand into the retailer it is today. I then compare and contrasted my in person shopping experience with my digital shopping experience, highlighting similarities and differences that make the omnichannel experience easy to use. Finally, I embedded pictures throughout the text to make it more digestible for readers, and further illustrate my references and research.
Outcome
The end result was a full length report evaluating the omnichannel experience of Dior. My takeaway was a deeper understanding of the brand and how it operates within the luxury market.