High-end brands have taken to online social-networking platform Line to sell luxury products during the Thai coronavirus lockdown.
Off-the-runway fashion items, currently unavailable at temporarily shuttered department stores in Bangkok, are now being sold on Thailand’s dominant messaging service, previously the domain of local brands engaging in e-commerce.
International names in luxury retail such as Bao Bao Issey Miyake, Club 21, Chanel and Louis Vuitton are now using Line accounts to set up online storefronts dedicated to moving products during the restrictions on movement.
The brands are using various strategies – from video clips and advertising via messaging to live chats serving product information – in an attempt to capture attention in the online marketplace.
While the Thai coronavirus lockdown may be relaxed later this month, allowing malls and department stores to reopen in the Thai capital, the new luxury e-commerce channels may well become an enduring feature of the nation’s fashion retail sector.
