Business of Luxury Part 10: The Coming Servicization of Luxury Products

We will see some interesting new trends in services that help luxury customers fill in their Experience Space. The “servicization” of non-service products like haute couture could create new opportunities for the luxury industry.

Today, the industry assumes that possession is an elementary part of a customer’s relationship with their product and brand, but I believe that a growing segment would rate variation and breadth considerably over possession.

The fashion industry is quick to dismiss this possibility. Gucci’s CEO Robert Polet, who BusinessWeek reported took over as CEO of Gucci after being head of ice-cream sales for Unilever, attended FT’s Business of Luxury Summit in Las Vegas.

If they could subscribe to an Internet service that enabled them to continuously get access to new fashion items, essentially on a time share basis, they would achieve their goal of not being seen in the same dress twice and of having a large wardrobe, albeit it is a virtual wardrobe.. When posed with the question if he could imagine an Internet business model where customers “rent” the clothing, dismissed this categorically as unrealistic and implausible. In fact, I didn’t meet a single fashion CEO at the summit other than Hublot’s mercurial CEO Jean-Claude Biver, who is seeking to be on the leading edge with Internet services. Hublot, which sells watches in the $5,000 - $35,000 range, launched their Internet based Hublot TV at the Business of Luxury Summit. In fact, Jean-Claude's talk at the Summit can be seen here (scroll down to "Summit of Luxury link).

Note: Does anyone have a better suggestion that can replace the awkward word Servicization? Comment on this thread if you do.