Surfing the Waves of New Marketing in Luxury Fashion: The Case of Online Multi-brand Retailers

The digital environment as a context and set of tools for marketers’ actions is the subject of considerable and growing interest in literature. The phenomenon is significant in many industries, with specificity within particular sectors in which, as in luxury fashion, the development of the online market has been particularly significant over the years. This article explores the case of online multi-brand retailers in the luxury fashion and the new marketing that characterizes their business model. Online technologies are general purposes, but the fields of application and the use of tools can have different effects in particular contexts, where companies that form a specific type of player operate. The paper presents the case of an online multi-brand retailer operating in the luxury fashion sector, a strategic group consisting of a few dozen players globally. The case of one of these companies, based in Italy, is then examined as a success story and shows new marketing strategies and specific capabilities as key aspects of the business model.