Faberge has launched faberge.com, a new online service designed to bring the unique qualities of a luxury brand to the web. The site was developed by IBM with the aim of defining a new interactive approach that supports the sale of high-value luxury goods on the internet.
New technology developed by IBM allows Faberge’s expert sales advisors, accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to provide one-to-one advice and guidance in real-time via live conversation text, telephone or video consultation.
The sales advisor can also guide clients through the Faberge site can place new or alternative products directly onto the clients screen, based on personal preferences and interests. The jewellery can then be explored from every angle in minute detail.
And, in the same way that customers have to ring the bell to gain entry to a top jeweller, customers looking to shop on the new site can only enter after providing a phone number so that a sales associate can call them to talk them through the service.
“Other retailers have adapted to the way we are told the online shopping experience has to work,” says Faberge’s CEO Mark Dunhill. “We wanted to turn this approach on its head by adapting the internet to meet our clients’ needs. When we started on this journey we realised we were setting IBM an enormous challenge. In fact we felt we might be asking them to do the impossible, however they achieved everything we wanted of them.”
“Being part of this project is the latest step in a long history of IBM innovation,” says Martin Guillaume, a partner at IBM Global Business Services, which put together a global team to work on the Faberge project. “Faberge was looking for a company that had design and technology capabilities combined with smart thinking to ensure it created something that was innovative and would support the continued growth of the business.”
IBM will host and support the new Faberge online service as the brand and online distribution model evolves and plans to continue developing both the model and the technical capabilities. Both the ability to involve other parties in the online interaction and ensuring the collection can be constantly refreshed with new pieces are being planned.
