The luxury market has undergone a fundamental transformation. What once existed exclusively in flagship stores and fashion week presentations now reaches consumers through mobile screens and immersive digital experiences. Cohan Leon Daley, a fractional CRO and board advisor with over two decades partnering with iconic fashion and luxury houses, helps heritage brands make this transition without compromising their essence. His approach focuses on converting digital presence into measurable growth.
Understanding How Luxury Has Changed
The luxury industry used to be simple. “Luxury used to live behind glass, elevated, exclusive, untouchable,” Daley explains. You walked into a boutique. Someone helped you. You bought something expensive. Done. Now everything’s different. Customers expect the same level of sophistication on their phones that they’d get in a flagship store. “If your digital experience doesn’t reflect your brand’s value, you’re not scaling. You’re stalling,” he says. And he’s seen plenty of brands stall.
Focus On Brand Storytelling
Fashion Week used to be the moment. Brands would reveal their collection, tell their story for the season, and that was it until next year. That model is dead. “In a digital age, your brand story isn’t told once at Fashion Week; it’s retold daily on mobile, in AR, through immersive content,” Daley points out. The brands winning right now treat their digital presence as an extension of their physical spaces. Virtual try-ons. 3D product visuals. Customer journeys that feel intentional instead of automated. It’s not about throwing technology at the problem. It’s about making digital feel as curated as walking into your favorite boutique.
Scale With Precision And Not With Volume
Mass marketing kills luxury value. You can’t discount your way to growth when you’re selling exclusivity. Daley’s approach focuses on something smarter: finding the customers who actually matter. “Mass marketing doesn’t build luxury value. Smart segmentation does,” he explains. The math is simple. Use data to identify who converts, who comes back, who tells their friends. Then invest everything in those people. One of his clients tried something different with their loyalty program. Instead of offering discounts as most brands do, they redesigned the whole thing around exclusivity. The result? A 30% jump in average order value. “That’s the power of precision,” he says about the shift.
Build Systems That Make Growth Inevitable
Influencer campaigns make noise. PR spikes get attention. But neither one builds lasting growth. “PR spikes and influencer buzz are fleeting. Sustainable growth comes from systems,” Daley explains. He’s talking about the unglamorous stuff that works behind the scenes. Acquisition funnels. Retention strategies. Revenue operations that run 24/7. Most luxury brands have impressive traffic numbers. Walk into their offices and they’ll show you charts with millions of visitors. Great. But what happens next? “If your digital ecosystem isn’t converting browsers into buyers or buyers into loyalists, you’re not maximizing your investment,” Daley points out. The gap between browsers and buyers is where money gets lost.
The brands that figure this out won’t be the ones just keeping up with trends. Success belongs to companies that lead with clear strategy. His advice comes down to three things: elevate your digital presence, focus intensely on your core customers, and build systems that make growth sustainable. “Let’s redefine what luxury growth looks like,” he says. For brands willing to put in the work, the opportunity is huge. But it requires rethinking everything about how luxury operates in a digital world. The question isn’t whether to go digital anymore. It’s how to do it without losing what makes luxury worth paying for.
Follow Cohan Leon Daley on LinkedIn for more insights on digital transformation in luxury and fashion.
