Analysis THE L2 DIGITAL IQ TRAVEL AND LUXURY REPORT

Travel and Luxury industries have some different points in digital marketing mix.
Luxury Report presents luxury brand tangible products. Luxury industry must be not always presented strongly on websites because it must protect the exclusiveness of their luxury products in the goal of an effective business. Luxury industry brands are not great users of online business. Many luxury brands such as Ralph Lauren or Louis Vuitton prefer to sell directly their products to the customers on their luxuous shops to protect their luxury brand image! For them the online selling is too popular! But luxury industry use websites such as a way of communication and pay attention of the media; internet is used by them not to sell really, just as a marketing way of presentation.
Luxury industry brands according the report have their Facebook pages. Today Facebook becomes too popular and the luxury brand products know where to be present to find customers. Twitter is also an influential social platform which is used by luxury brands. According the report, 5 luxury industry brands offer a commerce-enabled mobile experience and 7 brands have mobile-enabled sites.
Travel industry brands use IPhone as an essential marketing: 56% of brands host a mobile site!48% offer at least one Iphone application. Facebook is the preferred platform of the travel industry. Travel industry Facebook pages grew 20% in Q1 2011 while traffic to brand sites declined 8% year on year.
The hotels have digital competences: brands with the highest IQs post the greatest growth in average daily room rates. Cruise Line sites are poorly designed, and often lack e-commerce. Travel brands are not located at digital capacity: though 93% offer online booking, only 28% utilize social media sharing, only 9% include user reviews, only 20% integrate Facebook and only 60% incorporate video. Travel industry also use emails to attract customers.

SOCIAL MEDIA VIEW OF THE TOP 3 DIGITAL IQ COMPANIES:
(from the report and reading)

Top 3 Travel industry brands:
DELTA:Genius brand: score 168
SOUTHWEST.COM: Genius brand: score 165
AMERICAN AIRLINES: Genius brand: score 158
These Top 3 have a good view about social media: strong Facebook platform, prefer to communicate with customers via social sites, direct marketing.

Top 3 Luxury industry brands:
COACH: Genius brand: score 171
RALPH LAUREN: Genius brand: score 167
LOUIS VUITTON: Genius brand: score 167
Facebook is also the champion of their social media communication marketing way. For them social medias become sites of discussion, conversation, become windows or galeries of product presentation, in the goal of attraction and for a flourishing business!

Presented by Frédéric NGUYEN EICHHOLZER, MBA2B, IEMI-CMH.