TAG Heuer and Tiffany and Co. top the watch and jewelry categories, respectively, in a new US study that measures luxury brands on their digital competence.
The "Digital IQ" ranking system used to measure digital competence was designed by the L2 Luxury Lab of the New York University (NYU) Stern School of Business. In addition to watches and jewelry, the study covers brands in the following categories: automobiles, beauty and skincare, credit cards, cruises and tours, electronics, fashion, design and home, hotels, and wines and champagnes.
A total of 109 brands were ranked and given a "Digital IQ" based upon their search engine optimization; brand translation—the aesthetics of their digital media, as well as their messaging and conveyance of their heritage and corporate citizenship; leveraging the medium—their use of technology, interactivity and effectiveness of their user interface; and finally, their use of social media.
The goal, according to Luxury Lab founder Scott Galloway, a clinical associate professor at the Stern School of Business, is to "provide a robust tool that diagnoses digital strengths and weaknesses, helping companies achieve greater return on incremental investment."
The top eight brands ranked in the study each received Digital IQs above 140, passing them into the "Genius" class, meaning that digital competence is a competitive advantage for the brands and that their sites are search optimized, aesthetically engaging, functional and interactive. In addition, the brands are experimenting, innovating and engaging users on social media platforms and mobile devices.
TAG Heuer was the only watch or jewelry brand to rank in the Genius category, sliding in at the eighth spot with a score of 141. The brands that bested TAG include Apple, ranked at No. 1 with a score of 170, followed by BMW, Audi, Sony, Porsche, Louis Vuitton and Ralph Lauren.
Tiffany and Co., the highest-ranking jewelry company at No. 13, received a Digital IQ of 129, placing it in the "Gifted" class. The study called out Tiffany’s "elegant e-commerce platform and visually oriented product search" as helping the brand attain the top ranking among jewelry brands.
Companies in the Gifted class received scores between 110 and 140, with the designation meaning that the brands’ sites are crawlable, brand-enhancing and typically e-commerce enabled, and that the brands are also experimenting with a variety of Web applications.
Rolex fell into this category, ranking 13th, as did Swarovski at 21 and Cartier at 22.
Of the watch and jewelry brands falling into the "Average" class, scoring between 90 and 110 on the Digital IQ meter, were Chopard, Hublot, Movado, Van Cleef and Arpels, Omega, Bulgari and Piaget.
Brands in this class feature sites that are functional but predictable, with scant innovation and Web efforts that are not a point of competitive differentiation, the study said.
Next up are brands in the "Challenged" class, meaning that their Web sites are aesthetically pleasing but often poorly integrate the purchase and product experience, and feature limited engagement beyond the main Web site.
IWC ranked at the high end of this class, in the 72nd spot, with Baccarat at the low end, ranking 94th. Watch and jewelry brands ranking in between included Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Vacheron Constantin, Harry Winston, David Yurman and De Beers.
Finally, brands ranking as "Feeble," scoring under 70 on the Digital IQ scale, included Buccellati, Franck Muller, Graff, Bulova and Faberge. According to the study, brands falling into this class do not demonstrate commitment to the requisite resources the brand and opportunity warrants.
Looking more closely at the watch and jewelry categories, the study finds that many of the brands that label themselves as "exclusive luxury brands" have Digital IQs that are on average 17 points below "mass market luxury brands." Many of the higher price-point brands—most common in the watch, jewelry and fashion categories—have "visually stunning sites but struggle to incorporate search engine optimization or an intuitive user interface," the study explains.
In the watch category, TAG was the only brand to include links to authorized retailers on the Web. In addition, with the exception of TAG, Rolex, Hublot and Movado, the sites of other watch brands analyzed in the study require three to six clicks to navigate from the product display page to retail location information.
The study gives the watch category props, though, in terms of social media. Findings reveal that watch brands have more presence on social media platforms than most luxury brands.
As for jewelry, the study calls the category out as having the greatest number of players under the "Challenged" and "Feeble" classes, with weak traffic, poor user interfaces and limited use of social media leading to low Digital IQs.
None of the jewelry brands analyzed in the jewelry category feature a YouTube channel, the study found; David Yurman is the only brand boasting a Twitter account with a modest number of followers; and Cartier and Tiffany are the only brands with a significant number of fans on Facebook.
