Chanel Korea starts selling luxury watches online

A banner advertising 'Chanel Interstellar Capsule Collection' is seen on SSG.com's mobile shopping platform starting Monday afternoon. Screen capture from SSG.com's mobile shopping app

By Kim Jae-heun

Chanel Korea has started selling luxury watches online under a partnership with SSG.com, an online shopping platform operated by Shinsegae, company officials said Monday.

The French luxury fashion house has sold high-end products such as handbags, jewelry and watches only through offline channels, mainly at its boutiques and department stores. Chanel only sold cosmetics products on local e-commerce platforms as they were classified as mid-priced goods.

SSG.com posted a banner advertising “Chanel Interstellar Capsule Collection” on its mobile shopping platform, starting sales of the fashion brand's luxury watches. A total of seven different Chanel watches are on sale ranging in price from 11.5 million won ($8,712) to 37.7 million won.

But the world's leading fashion and luxury brands have been in a conflict with e-commerce firms due to fears of losing the initiative in retailing power to online shopping platforms.

President of Fashion at Chanel Bruno Pavlovsky said in an interview with Vogue Business in Oct. 2020 that “flat images of products on the screen, which you can find with a few clicks on e-commerce (platforms)…do not offer the level of experience that (Chanel) wants to provide to the customers.”

Chanel Korea made a compromise, however, by allowing customers to purchase its luxury watches online, but receiving the products at Shinsegae Department Stores only.

The launch of online watch sales by Chanel attests to the rising global stature of Korea's luxury products market.

According to Morgan Stanley, Korea's consumption of luxury goods surged 24 percent year-on-year in 2022 to $16.8 billion (22.17 trillion won). In terms of per capita expenditure, Koreans spent an average of $325, which is much higher than the U.S. ($280) and China ($45).