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Despite the impressive growth in both, the luxury sector in general and luxury online sales in particular, a vast number of luxury brands is still hesitant to operate own e-boutiques. Generally, many luxury marketers doubt the compatibility of luxury with the World Wide Web due to the so-called "Internet dilemma" of luxury brands: The Internet is characterized by the ubiquity of its offering and maximum price transparency. The status of luxury brands, on the other side, is based on their exclusivity and a premium price. Nevertheless, research seeking to resolve the Internet dilemma is scarce. Thus, luxury brand managers lack guidance when it comes to the creation of a compelling luxury shopping experience for the growing online customer segment. This work makes a step towards filling this gap. It contributes to the extant literature through the identification of luxury-specific web characteristics. Designing luxury e-boutiques that are aligned with these characteristics enables luxury brands to drive sales growth without the risk of diluting their exclusive status.

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Dinara Rosow, MSc in General Business Administration at the WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management in Vallendar. Further studies in Business Administration, Economics and Political Science at the Copenhagen Business School and the Institut d´études politiques de Paris.

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