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Gucci's Digital Marketing

From 2016 to now, Gucci's online presence has grown significantly with more people searching for the brand online. In 2017, the brand saw a 115% increase in growth, with over $61,798,514 earned in media value. Furthermore, the fashion house saw a 44.5% increase in revenues in the nine months ending 30th September 2017. This growth can be linked to the success of their digital marketing strategies, which has allowed the brand to integrate the digital world to the in-store experience, and communicate to a larger target audience.

E-Commerce
Gucci has focused on the online shopping experience, creating a sense of digital inspiration by including visually rich and large images and videos, with more information on current fashion collections in the editorial section(The Agenda). The company has actively frequently uploaded posts of behind the scenes, with information on the patterns and styles, which highlight the craftsmanship of each product design. This has allowed consumers to gain a stronger emotional relationship with the brand.

The design and experience of the e-commerce website is an important part of the digital marketing strategy as it has been found to have an effect on the overall consumers' assessment of the online shopping process, which influences the level of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Research by Wolfinbarger and Gilly (2003) concluded that website design, ease of navigation and good levels of service should live up to the consumers' expectations. As Gucci is perceived as an luxury brand, the company has effectively implemented key information such as free returns, a find-in-store option, product information, gift wrapping and customer service details. Furthermore, the ease of the site is emphasised with the adaptable use on mobile and tablet devices and the clear integrated links to all the brands social media accounts. The website allows users to share the information onto their social media profiles, allowing more people to see the marketing materials.

Social Media
Social media marketing is an important tool that can be used to monitor and facilitate customer interactions and participations, whilst being able to directly communicate with target consumers. Gucci has a strong digital presence online, and is heavily active across various social media channels with the username: Gucci. These include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google+, Pinterest, and Snapchat. In 2017, the brand was seen to be the the most-discussed brand on social media within the high-end luxury market. The brand has integrated itself into the modern digital world with campaigns such as the 'collaborative art project'. This campaign was to market a new line of watches, in which the brand collaborated with artists and popular Instagram meme accounts. Memes can be defined as a joke, fad or memorable piece of content that spreads across the web and is usually accompanied by a witty caption. For Gucci, the brand focused on Instagram ads, where they reimagined popular memes with their watch collection, prompting users to share and tag their friends. Despite the conversation and shares, the campaign was not wildly successful, with many viewers reacting negatively to the content.

Collaboration
Gucci has created strong partnerships with Hollywood celebrities and social media influencers, working closely with these individuals to reach more demographics and re-establish its identity as a new, modern brand; despite the fact that it has been around for a while. The brand has changed directions in working with the type of celebrities, with Gucci now dressing contemporary style icons like Rhianna, Blake Lively, Brad Pitt and Rachel McAdams, who can be easily resonated with millennials.

Along with this, Gucci has worked closely with internet stars and has transformed many up and coming instagrammers into luxury-brand stars. These collaborations have been proven to be successful due to the associations with opinion leaders who try to influence the purchasing behaviours of opinion seekers, who are actively searching for information to assist with their purchasing behaviours and decisions. As research has found that consumers make purchases based on what they mean and see items as a sense of their extended self, this form of word-of-mouth marketing can be used to influence the brand's meaning and thus, influence the probability of purchases.