Upper Clash: Stories from a Luxury World

The first in a series of Upper Clash events kicked off with a buzz at the Met Bar in Mayfair with a fabulous line up of senior people working in luxury. The event ‘Stories from a Luxury World’ took a more personal approach with the speakers talking about their experiences in this fascinating sector, with a focus on online, and their thoughts about what's great - and what's frustrating - about it. 

Speakers at Upper Clash's Stories from a Luxury World Event

• Mike Burnett – Ecommerce Director at Linley London
• Stephanie Phair – Former President of the Outnet.com
• David Duncan-Smith – Former CEO Louis Vuitton UK and Prada Group
• Anna Bance – Co-Founder of Girl Meets Dress

With a format of short talks from each speaker and a Q&A at the end, the insights and depth of the conversation revealed some interesting points. One common thread was that the luxury sector needs to keep their online presence simple. There is a tendency to over complicate the brand message which restricts the consumer journey and therefore online revenue.

Questions from the audience of 40 luxury peers, which included people from Net-a-Porter, Secretsales, Lux Fix and Farfetch, dug further into the detail about the approach and execution of international expansion and, in particular, the Chinese market (which can provide huge rewards if done correctly). The consensus was to research deeply and involve partners who know the territory well.

There was a refreshing level of honesty with analysis of the online luxury sites from brands that will remain nameless. The room agreed that some were not hitting the mark...

The event, hosted by Chris Donnelly, MD at VERB, is part of a series of intimate events where senior leaders open up about their lives and what motivates them to feel passionate about their sector and was presented by cranberry panda, VERB and Leon Bailey-Green.

Keep posted for more events in the future and find photos from the evening on Upper Clash.