The world’s leading watch and jewellery brands are finally embracing e-commerce, according to L2, a US-based think tank for digital innovation.
The company’s 2012 ‘Digital IQ Index: Watches & Jewellery’ report ranked the digital performance of 47 top brands including Tiffany & Co, Pandora, Cartier, Longines, Tag Heuer, Bvlgari, Chopard and Graff.
Tiffany & Co topped the list which measured success in four main areas (website, digital marketing, social media, and mobile).
The brand was followed by Swarovski, David Yurman, Tissot, Cartier, Mont Blanc, Pandora, De Beers, Virtorinox and Jaeger-LeCoultre to make up the Top 10.
The report’s authors said that although the watch and jewellery industry has traditionally lagged in terms of digital competence, brands are now “starting to invest in the space as the industry sees deteriorating distribution through third-party retailers and an increase in vertical channels”.
“This is particularly evident in the rapid rate of e-commerce adoption − almost half of the brands in this year’s index are now e-commerce enabled as compared to less than one third of brands in 2011.”
According to the report e-commerce had far reaching implications for watch and jewellery brands.
“Brands that are e-commerce enabled register nearly 50 percent greater year-on-year traffic growth than those that are not and see more than 1.5 times as many Google searches as brands who have yet to sell online.
“On the social side, brands with e-commerce boast more than twice as many Facebook fans and four times as many YouTube views as their non-commerce counterparts.”