Naver announced on Oct. 28 that it has rebranded its “Luxury” service, which focused on global luxury brands, to “HIGHEND” service on Oct. 27. The company has also expanded its brand portfolio from the existing focus on fashion and beauty to include living and electronics.
As a result, the HIGHEND service now features about 20 new luxury brands in living and electronics, in addition to the existing luxury fashion and beauty brands. These include the Nordic premium furniture brand Fritz Hansen, the French high-tech audio brand Devialet, the French luxury porcelain brand Bernardaud, and the French crystal brand Baccarat. Italian dining ware brand Cosi Tabellini and French fashion house Maison Margiela are using HIGHEND as their official online store in Korea. French furniture brand De Bejarry has launched its first Naver brand store through HIGHEND.
All products sold on HIGHEND are provided through official stores operated directly by luxury brands or through official certified sellers designated by the brands, rather than direct purchase or parallel import. Customers who purchase products from HIGHEND can receive genuine product and after-sales service guarantees, as well as signature packaging services from luxury brands. A digital genuine purchase certificate from Naver Collection is also provided.
Along with the service revamp, user purchase benefits have been enhanced. Naver Plus membership users can receive an additional 2% of the payment amount as Naver Pay points without limit when purchasing products from HIGHEND. This means a maximum of 7% can be accumulated, including the basic accumulation rate of 5%.
Naver started its luxury brand-centered Luxury service in 2020. The transaction amount of the Luxury service has increased more than tenfold in four years. The number of participating brands has also increased 2.5 times. The utilization rate of the Lounge Solution, a brand store membership management solution, was found to be higher than the average of all brand stores.
Currently, 70% of the fashion and beauty brands listed on HIGHEND are using the Lounge Solution. It allows brands to provide personalized benefits to customers such as lounge-exclusive products, birthday coupons, and new product information, and operate a one-on-one customer response system using TalkTalk messages. Accordingly, Naver has expanded the visual-centric exhibition space to allow brands listed on HIGHEND to better introduce their brand colors and identities to their VIP regulars. Categories have also been added to consistently archive brand philosophy and sensibility.
To celebrate the launch of HIGHEND, Naver is holding a special promotion until November 11, featuring selected best products that have received high interest from online VIP regulars, and offering various benefits such as exclusive special prices and exclusive plans in collaboration with luxury brands.
Lee Yun-sook, Naver’s Shopping Business Leader, said, “The newly introduced HIGHEND is a luxury vertical service that has been advanced to allow users to experience more convenient and reliable shopping based on enhanced partnerships with luxury brands.” She added, “We will continue to develop Naver’s technology-based search environment and regular customer management solutions to connect luxury brands and online VIP users more closely.”
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