suitable for them and offer them the
most tailored content at every moment.
THE IMPORTANCE OF A
PERSONALIZED, TAILORED
CONSUMER EXPERIENCE IN
THE SECTOR
The best luxury services are customized,
not standardized. Catering to the
individual is what defines true luxury,
and in the luxury market it is the
critical competitive differentiator. As
customization is nothing new, now is
truly the time for the luxury service
companies to realize the importance
of making even more personal services
and meeting the needs of its customers.
Globalization has made the luxury
sector more accessible to a larger
number of people. The individualization
of a service is what now creates an
important competitive advantage.
“Experiential Explosions” as Forbes
puts it, in its 2017 luxury trends report,
are the new buzzwords describing what
today’s luxury service clients are after.
The highest level of service is delivering
to your consumers a more intimate
experience, on an individual level,
delivering unique services, products or
experiences to each client according
to his or her preferences: “Building
a strategy and delivery mechanism
around personalization is a key objective
for producing sales” (Rheams 2016).
Consumers are no longer wanting an
exceptional experience, but rather an
exceptional personalized experience and
at this level, the industry is challenged
to meet this high demand.
The challenge for any of the companies
is to deliver a luxury experience
that goes beyond the standard.
Customization is really important
for consumers, complementing
their personal taste is the ultimate
satisfaction you can provide them with.
Ultimate luxury is sophistication and
comfort with extraordinary attributes,
a meticulous personalized service
and incredible impeccable standard
of excellence. High-end brands
understand that not all consumers
focus on price point. Most luxury
consumers prefer an experience catered
to their interests and preferences over
the generic ones. Personalization is
a vital part of the success of luxury
concierge companies, because it is the
critical factor for delivering a high-
quality service experience: “Sixty-five
percent of businesses that implement
some personalized program for their
customers see a much higher retention
rate (around sixty percent) than those
that don’t attempt to personalize
their customers’ experience” (Digital
Marketing Blog, 2016).
Personalization is now truly becoming
a well-recognized and well-discussed
term in the luxury service industry.
As competition and the fight for
consumers’ attention grows and the
noisy digital environment increases,
service companies must look for
anything that can set them apart
from competitors. Creating a personal
touch with a tailored experience will
create engagement at a higher level:
“Personalization technology enables
the dynamic insertion, customization
or suggestion of content in any format
that is relevant to the individual user,
based on the user’s implicit behavior
and preference and explicitly given
details” (MaGuire & Suneel Grover
2014). To be able to thrive in a very
competitive market, luxury brands must
invest in key areas between now and
2020 according to new research by the
global trend forecaster WGSN report,
“How to Attract the Luxury Consumer
in 2020”. The report “revealed the top
most effective trends to lure luxury
consumers over the next five years,
those top key areas are; exclusive
collaboration with relevant partners
(78%), secret and exclusive experiences
(59%) and personalized experiences
(53%).”
Personalization provides the luxury
market with a huge opportunity to
create a valuable and highly segmented
customer journey and to be able to
connect with consumers to collect real-
time data. This enables the businesses
to deliver an incredible experience.
In short, personalization is hugely
important for these companies to be
able to provide something different,
exciting, and exceptional. Luxury is
based on authenticity, establishing
real one-on-one relationships
considering the importance of service
personalization which will increase the
uniqueness and quality of the services
provided. Standardized processes in
the luxury industry do not work, and
in fact will inevitably disappoint the
consumer. Catering to the individual is
what truly defines luxury. The challenge
for these companies is being able to
deliver a luxury experience by being
knowledgeable enough to go beyond
the standard, and that personalization
is the competitive differentiator.
Personalization payoff is massive.
Technology Platform Innovations and
Software for Personalization with
Consumer-Focused Content
Technology enabled personalization is
likely to continue making considerable
changes in the industry, and as
“Personalization and mobile devices
continue to dominate the industry,
there are many lucrative advantages to
acting sooner rather than later. With
consumers showing an overwhelming
preference for personalization, the
time is now” (Virtual Concierge 2016).
Collecting personalized data for your
target audience will be the most
influential niche for this service. There
are a few ways that this data collection
could occur to gather prospective
customers and they are; user profile
information on social portals, public
interactions, online forums, social
media, or prior experiences with the
brand. This will be critical to be able
to implement the personal touch.
The particularization of tastes has
become a trend. The high-end market
shows that with technology applied to
services, businesses can identify the
most specific demands. More data
with better technology means that the
service providers will be getting more
refined at knowing what consumers
want and don’t want and be able to
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