luxury loves crypto

April 2024

The big dogs of the luxury world REALLY dig crypto.

Brands are gonna start issuing NFTs for everything they sell, as digital receipts to store product info. Like proof an item’s legit, how and when it was made, and its ownership history. When you’re dropping Gs on a fancy handbag, you want these kindsa guarantees.

But let’s be clear - brands ain’t moving to the metaverse lol. They’ve spent 100s of years making things in the physical world. They’re not ditching that in a hurry.

NFTs let them big up the quality and craftsmanship of their physical goods. Not replace them. All the funky stuff in digital fashion is gonna come from crypto natives.

When brands give their customers NFTs, they know their wallets. And when they know their wallets, they can see everything they’ve bought and what communities they’re in. That’s tasty intel.

Before, they had to guess what their customers were into. Now, they can see exactly what they like. And then use this to sell them more stuff with super personalised offers.

And all that’s for current customers. But it works for finding new ones as well. Just figure out what makes someone a valuable customer, scan the blockchain for people with that behaviour, and then go after them.

Now, I know what you’re thinking… won’t brands make their data private to stop their customers getting poached? Maybe.

But there’s a decent chance this doesn’t happen because (1) customers like an open system where they can move their assets between brands and use them in different ways, and (2) it leads to more partnerships where brands use tokengated shopping to get new, non-overlapping customers.

But here’s the big prize. Luxury brands expand into resale markets.

Right now, resale markets are messy. Buyers are scared of getting scammed. And brands don’t know when resales are happening and who’s buying their stuff. But when everything has an NFT, reselling is silky smooth.

Buyers know they’re getting the real McCoy because they can see the history of the item and its rightful owner.

Brands can set royalties to get a cut on every resale and reach out to the buyer to turn them into a proper customer. They can squeeze more money from everything they sell instead of producing more. And less supply makes them more exclusive, which lets them charge higher prices.

So now you see. Crypto’s a no-brainer for luxury brands.