Little time? At the end of the text there is a summary.

"Time flies, you're the pilot" is under the old wind-up clock, which sets the beat on a Friday morning in an unplastered conference room in Cologne-Ehrenfeld: shortly before 9.

Always keep track of what that means - even if it's going to be fast.

That's what Philipp Man, 27, is all about - not just this morning. One is one of two managing directors of Chronext, an online portal for luxury watches. It is one of the most successful in the industry and is flourishing magnificently. He scratched with his company at the beginning of last year still in the three-digit million sales, one wants to 2020 "already in it clearly move," says Man.

The native of Rhineland offers Chronext luxury watches in the price range between 1000 and 500,000 euros. With its portal Man is one of the profiteers of a market that is growing almost as fast as his own company: the online trade in luxury goods.

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Philipp Man

Luxury means breaking the standard of living. On the net this is especially true for fashion and accessories - less for the sweeping yacht. Over the past five years, the global online luxury market has more than doubled - and the forecasts are good. A study by the consulting firm McKinsey, for example, predicts that sales in the online luxury trade could more than triple by 2025.

However, only ten percent of the global luxury business, which last had a turnover of 262 billion euros, is still being generated online.

They survive with the right strategy

Nina Scharwenka, partner at the consulting firm Simon-Kucher & Partners and an expert in consumer goods and trade in German-speaking countries, believes that this will change. Particularly in demand in the luxury market is "everything that has no clothing size": watches, jewelery and handbags, for example. Products that are stable in value and generalizable. A status symbol for the boys and an investment for the older ones.

However, according to the consulting firms Bain & Company and Boston Consulting Group in a luxury study, those who would adapt their strategy to changes in the market would only benefit from the growth.

But what does such a strategy look like?

"The top priority is security for the customer - full confidence in the seriousness of the dealer," says expert Scharwenka. Watch dealers like Philipp Man do a lot for this.

24 months warranty on all products, 14 days return policy, customer reviews. Almost 100% delivery reliability. Chronext sends his watches via a special transport of valuables. The acceptance of the Nobeluhr takes place thereby exclusively by the buyer personally. Here the dealers offer high standards.

The problem is different.

"To be able to experience the luxury world in all its dimensions online," says Scharwenka. Here it suffers with the noble brands.

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Luxury shopping on the net

Industry figures like Chanel have not yet opened their online shop for all segments. Why the company does so, Chanel Germany did not want to comment on request. Chanel Fashion President Bruno Pavlovsky clarified earlier this month in an interview with the "Handelsblatt" that e-commerce would continue to give a clear rejection.

But it shows the dilemma in which luxury brands are stuck: the crux between what constitutes luxury, scarcity, and the consumerism of a younger consumer group. More than 40 percent, according to a McKinsey survey, come across the social networks of luxury on the net.

"The biggest customer stream in the online luxury trade are the generations Y and Z, that is the buyer group between 18 and 35 years," says Scharwenka. Half of their customers already find the high-end brands in the shoppers under 35 years of age. The majority of Gucci buyers, the most sought-after fashion brand in the world, according to Google, are between 20 and 35 years old. The luxury buyers are not only younger, they also change their consumer behavior and develop a new quality awareness.

Especially young people want luxury

"The luxury trade is increasingly confronted with a shoppers, whose lifeworld is largely in the digital," says consumer psychologist Hans-Georg Häusel. From the point of view of the researcher, a few points are central to online trading: right of return, customer recommendations, individual advice. The luxury buyer of today, according to Häusel, is one who is "completely open to the Internet".

Will stationary trading be superfluous?

Häusel denies: "Those who understand how to stage their products will survive," he says. As an example, the expert mentions the product presentation in the Apple stores. Scharwenka, meanwhile, sees stationary retailing as a key factor: "Especially in the luxury trade, it is extremely important for the emotion and history of a brand," she says.

And what does watch salesman Man, who went to the online market in 2013 with a product that was predicted at the time of certain death, say?

DPA

Customers in front of the Apple Store

"I think the watch market will focus even more on online in ten or fifteen years," he says.

Everything online?

Philipp Man does not believe in that. The interaction "between online and offline - that's the future," he says.

Then you have to go to Berlin - open a pop-up store.


In summary: The online trade in luxury goods is growing, globally and in Germany. This leads to a younger buyer group whose consumer behavior is changing. A challenge for brick-and-mortar retail and the online business.