The luxury property market has changed; The internet is no longer the preserve of the mass market alone.
We are seeing luxury brands engage with their affluent audience where previously they were afraid to do so for fear of harming their brand identity. It is clear that there is a significant shift among affluent consumers who are spending more time online for both social and commercial reasons; in a 2011 study, 92% of affluent consumers used the internet to buy a product or service, up from 68% the previous year. Furthermore a HNWI is likely to spend more time on social networks than most other individuals.
Rising Online Marketing Spend by Luxury Brands
With this compelling surge in popularity of online commerce, sophisticated social networking and mobile internet with the modern day luxury consumer, brands are now able not only to convey their luxury proposition online, but actually enhance it by offering unique and convenient experiences particular to the lifestyles of the HNWI demographic. Luxury brands have started to spend significantly more online; a study recently published by Altagamm and Bain & Company states that the spend has increased by 20% both in 2010 and 2011. The sign that buyers of full-priced luxury goods have discovered the convenience of online shopping is demonstrated by the recent success of websites like Yoox and Net-a-Porter.
Online Marketing for the High-End Property Market
In particular, those in the Luxury Real Estate sector have used traditional forms of advertising in newspapers and magazines for many years; however these traditional channels present an extremely high customer acquisition cost and provide little benefit outside plain advertising. In comparison, the level at which luxury brands can track their online advertising and marketing spend means that the guesswork is taken out of where is best to invest their efforts.
Luxury online marketing creates a far more level playing field than traditional advertising between global luxury icons and localised boutique brands; both can now compete and partner on a global scale, whether selling a luxury penthouse in London, luxury villas in Saint Tropez, or a luxury home in the Virgin Islands. It is no longer a question of how much you spend on advertising, but where you spend and how you engage with your audience.
92% of Affluent Audience Researching Purchases Online
In today’s Luxury Property Market internet media should be core to your marketing mix, using it to reinforce your Luxury Real Estate brand proposition, both online and offline. Given that the vast majority of the affluent audience is now navigating and researching the internet for their luxury property purchases it is essential for high-end Estate Agents to further invest in their online presence.
Aside from being a cost-effective medium, the internet can offer luxury Estate Agents the opportunity to deliver consistent and tailored experiences suitable for luxury home buyers.
Te Atrium is the first truly global luxury property portal dedicated to delivering this level of service to its high-end Estate Agent partners and its luxury property searchers. While our exclusive Estate Agents benefit from our sophisticated online targeting campaigns designed to attract appropriate leads on their behalf, the users who come to Te Atrium are rewarded with a luxurious, user-friendly and technologically advanced website, offering time-saving features, customisable functionalities and multilingual capabilities to aid their international search like no other property portal. Te Atrium’s extensive research about digital consumption in the luxury market has led to a content-rich and meaningful design appropriate to Luxury Real Estate in the digital age.
More Than Just Plain Advertising
Te Atrium’s product offering is based on the assumption that the luxury property market requires more than just plain advertising and for this reason a number of specific features have been implemented since the portal was launched in September 2011 while new ones will be released during 2012 and beyond. Among them the company is planning to release a dedicated platform for off-market transactions and increase its PR and marketing services.
