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Coming soon: High-tech tactics to enhance your prestige

Some people think of the Internet as the great leveler, providing unlimited information to anyone within walking distance of a computer terminal. But luxury-goods marketers may find it's the best tool yet for enhancing their image of exclusivity and building relationships with top-drawer clients.

An article in Luxemagazine predicts that among luxury goods retailers, e-mailing customers, rather than phoning them, will soon become standard practice when, for example, a new crop of Prada bags or South Sea pearls comes into the store.

From there, it's just a short step to luxury retailers developing more sophisticated high-tech selling techniques. They may, for instance, set up Web sites with personalized pages that can be accessed only by the customer for whom they're made. The page would show products chosen just for that person, based on what he or she has bought in the past or has shown interest in. Some stores, including Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, are already exploring high-tech ways to bond with their high-rolling customers, the article says.

More predictions:

• By the end of 1998, employers will complain more about employees Net shopping on the job than about them Net surfing for idle recreation, their big beef until now.
• Also by the end of 1998, "at least one luxury brand will launch a 'Shop the Net@Lunch' promotion targeted at the busiest – and wealthiest – white-collar professionals."

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