![Gucci's campaigns, such as the Cruise 2017, regularly push boundaries and bridge cultures and generations](https://americanmarketer.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Gucci-Cruise-2017.png)
The gap between high-achieving digital fashion labels and those who trail behind is growing, as brands with larger budgets to invest in innovation are speeding ahead of the pack. Italian fashion house Gucci rose to the top of L2’s rankings this year, ousting last year’s leader Burberry thanks to upgrades to its ecommerce site and social media visibility. As ecommerce sales grow and consumers increasingly turn to online channels to make purchase decisions, a brand's digital prowess is only going to become more important.
"All the brands in the top 10 perform well across or at least adequately across the board," said Ried Niziak, study lead and associate director at L2. "Where Gucci sets itself apart is in retailer visibility and Google search visibility.
"Gucci has unparalleled product visibility across retailers," he said. "It has the highest first visibility among all the retailers, meaning that its products are more likely than any other brand to appear on the first page of search results when a consumer is browsing on a retailer site.
"It has standout search visibility for both non-branded and branded keywords. While most brands in the study struggle for any visibility on non-branded search terms, for example handbags, an indication of a consumer higher up on the purchase funnel, Gucci is able to obtain significant organic visibility across male leather accessory terms, for example men’s wallet, so much so that our analysis indicates the brand receives three times the amount of organic visibility on non-branded searches each month than second place brand Burberry.
"When it comes to branded terms, despite distributing products across many retailers, Gucci is able crowd out retailers for visibility and control a larger share of the organic and paid real estate on Google. Gucci is able push out retailers for visibility, funneling consumers already searching for Gucci specific products to its own ecommerce site rather than retailers."
L2’s “Digital IQ Index: Fashion” looks at the digital competence of 85 labels, looking at their Web sites, digital marketing, social media and mobile platforms. Stacking up Seven percent of personal luxury goods sales are made via ecommerce today, but online retail will represent 12 percent of the luxury market by 2020, according to projections from the Boston Consulting Group. About six out of every 10 luxury purchases currently are influenced by digital channels, as social media, a brand’s Web site and mobile feed into buying decisions, whether the transaction is completed online or in-store. While many luxury brands have been avoiding the shift toward digital that many of their mass counterparts have made, BCG warns that the business models of digital laggards will no longer suffice in today’s market (see story). Kering’s brands within the index fared better than LVMH’s, with a greater portion of its houses clustered at average or above. The company has rolled out innovations across its stable, including using Yoox Net-A-Porter to power its ecommerce sites, whereas there is less cohesion in digital performance among LVMH houses.![louis vuitton.pass app](https://americanmarketer.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/louis-vuitton.pass-app-.png)
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"There really are two trends going on here-many brands, like Moschino and Alexander Wang, have quasi adopted see-now, buy-now, as the brands are only making a small amount of products available for purchase," Mr. Niziak said. "These brands are trying to use the trend to build further buzz and attention, but are not currently looking to drive a large portion of their sales through the trend.
"However, brands like Burberry and Tom Ford seem a lot more committed to the process and are effectively changing how they sell clothing," he said. "Both brands have made significant investments in production, logistics and marketing, effectively pushing up their timelines by six months and turning their fashion show into a live catalogue to attract attentions and sales from consumers watching at home.
"I do see this trend continuing, but it may not be feasible for many brands to adopt it due to the investment it takes. Thus, we may only see a small portion of brands adopting it in the next couple of seasons."
Beyond being a channel for inspiration, branding and selling, social media is also being harnessed as a customer service tool. A number of brands have used Facebook Messenger to field client requests, and 43 percent of brands use Instagram’s contact button. Amazon avoidance Despite Amazon’s growing presence in the fashion space, as it is expected to soon be the largest U.S. clothing retailer, only a quarter of L2’s fashion index sell on the ecommerce giant. In comparison, only 8 percent do not have any ecommerce partnerships with other retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue or Nordstrom.![Amazon-400](https://americanmarketer.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Amazon-400.png)