The growing investment and interest of leading brands in the applicability of digital transformation strategies seeks to respond to the high expectations of a consumer profile that is progressively more informed and consequently more detailed. Consumers, as we know them today, demand effective monitoring in their relationship with brands, adapted to each profile, increasingly based on a digital universe. The level of connectivity registered by customers demonstrates the adoption of an always-on behavior in line with the lifestyle and pace of life of the majority. This chapter intends to explore the impact and influence of technology on the consumer experience in physical stores of brands in the luxury sector, as well as identify technological and digital trends that contribute to a more interesting and successful relationship between consumers and the staff that accompanies them.
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Firstly, it’s relevant to address the impact of digital transformation within the scope of the relationship between brands in the luxury sector and their consumers. The commitment of businesses to a digital adaptation that synchronizes with consumer behavior provides, as a consequence, an improvement in sales, an optimized presence and a reinforcement of differentiation as current brands. In this perspective, digital transformation enhances the relationship between brands and consumers and allows for more effective acquisition and retention (Kapferer et al., 2017).
The knowledge acquired by the brands about their customers was, until very recently, retained by the ambassadors and employees of these brands. The natural expansion of the businesses had an impact on the increase and diversification of the teams that had direct access to consumers, and it became essential to centralize and capture all the information that they collected to date in a safe and more evolved universe.
The digital transformation thus represents an added value for brands, as it allows the capture of real-time data about their customers and their behavior. In this way, the brands have valuable information about the different customer profiles that follow and visit them, managing through this knowledge to provide impactful and lasting memories and emotions for each one of them (Chamorro-Premuzic, 2021).
There are, therefore, improvements which greatly impact not only the business itself of any brand, but fundamentally the consumer's perception of these same brands. The improvement in customer response, in terms of time and content, is notorious and quite significant (Reinartz et al., 2018).