1. The Luxury Shoe Industry
Analysis of Consumers’ Search Intentions and
Brands’ Social Media Presence
December 2011
www.digital-luxury.com
NEW YORK | GENEVA | DUBAI | SHANGHAI

2. “Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world.”
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 2
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 Photo Source: http://www.thefashionfiend.com/2011/06/01/fashion-icon

3. Objectives of this Research
• The first digital analysis of the Luxury
Shoe Industry
• Measuring and analyzing customer
intentions via search engine searches
• Social Media & Community Management
analysis of top shoe brands
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 Photo Source: http://www.coutureinthecity.com

4. SCOPE:
Based on Google searches in the top
luxury fashion markets
Data available upon
special request
4
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 Photo Source: http://www.elle.com

5. SCOPE:
57 luxury shoe brands sorted
into 3 categories
5
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 Photo Source: http://www.thecelebrityhome.com

6. Category 1: MAISON
• Brand includes a range of product categories, of
which shoes is just one. Shoes do not represent
more than 50% of revenues of the brand, presently
nor in the past.
• Brand established before 2000
• Alexander McQueen, Azzedine Alaia, Balenciaga,
Bottega Veneta, Celine, Chanel, Chloe, D&G, Dolce
& Gabbana, Dior, Givenchy, Gucci, Isabel Marant,
Kenzo, Lanvin, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Marni,
Miu Miu, Prada, Ralph Lauren, Stella McCartney,
Valentino, YSL
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 Photo Source: http://www.lvmh.fr/lvmh-news/news#/news/435:

7. Category 2: SHOE HERITAGE
• Brand’s original focus was on shoes, even if they have
since expanded beyond
• Shoes still remain major piece of the business
• Bally, Casadei, Cesare Paciotti, Ferragamo, Fratelli
Rossetti, GianMarco Lorenzi, Gina, Giuseppe Zanotti,
Hogan, Jimmy Choo, Kurt Geiger, LK Bennett,
Christian Louboutin, Manolo Blahnik, Pierre Hardy,
Pura Lopez, René Caovilla, Roger Vivier, Sergio Rossi,
Sigerson Morrison, Stephane Kelian, Stuart
Weitzman, Tod’s, Walter Steiger
7
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 Photo Source: http://theculturedkids.blogspot.com/2010_06_01_

8. Category 3: NEW PLAYERS
• Brand established after 2000
• May or may not be solely focused on shoes
• Often considered a trendsetter by its peers
• Alexander Wang, Alexandre Birman, Brian Atwood,
Camilla Skovgaard, Charlotte Olympia, Derek Lam,
Gianvito Rossi, Jonathan Kelsey, Nicholas Kirkwood,
Reed Krakoff
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 8
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 Photo Source: http://magwood.ca/blog/wp-content/uploads/

9. Highlights
• The United States is the most shoe-crazy market, with more
than 40% of total global searches
• 35% of search intentions (brand searches not included) are
related to specific shoe styles
• Prada and Gucci combined represent nearly 50% of searches
in the MAISON category
• Christian Louboutin rocks the Web with 45% of the searches
in the SHOE HERITAGE category
• Jimmy Choo and Christian Louboutin lead on Facebook
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 9
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 Photo Source:: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/

10. TOP LUXURY SHOE MARKETS
based on Google search intentions
BRA 5.7% JAP 2.8%
GER 7.9%
IT 8.3% USA 48.8%
FR 9.6%
UK 17.0%
DLG –October 2010 to September 2011
• More than 40% of the searches were made in the US
• The United Kingdom is by far the first digital European market in
the shoe industry
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 10
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 Photo Source: http://todayimwearing.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/

11. SEARCH INTENTIONS
Clientele’s preferences towards luxury
shoe brands
• 91.68% of the searches are brand-related
• 3.58% are related to styles (boots, ballerinas, high-
heels, etc…)
• 3% related to distribution (POS, online
shop, retailers, etc…) 35.8%
91.68% 30.8%
16.0%
7.6%
3.3% 5.5%
0.1% 1.0%
BRAND
OTHER
DLG –October 2010 to September 2011
11
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 Photo Source: http://www.coquettishmish.com/2011_05_01_archive.html

12. FOCUS on STYLES in the US market
Looking at over 3 million searches focusing on styles on
Google in US from January to September 2011:
sneakers 41.0%
boots 19.1%
pumps 10.7%
sandals 7.1%
heels 6.7%
loafer 3.7%
wedges 3.6%
thongs 1.7%
platforms 1.5%
booties 1.5%
ballet 1.0%
slippers 0.6%
high heels 0.6% “Sneakers” represent more than
espadrilles 0.5%
ballerinas 0.3%
40% of shoe style searches.
biker 0.2% Opportunity for luxury brands?
lace-up 0.2%
12
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 Photo Source: http://www.shoefanaticformen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/

13. Top 7 Most Searched Brands in the
MAISON Category (23)
Prada 23.2%
Gucci 22.8%
Louis Vuitton 11.8%
Ralph Lauren 5.8%
Dolce & Gabbana 5.7%
Chanel 5.4%
Yves Saint Laurent 3.8%
Others (16) 21.4%
DLG –October 2010 to September 2011
• Prada and Gucci lead, while Dior ranks 8th
• Azzedine Alaia ends the ranking with 0.1%. While the brand
does not have a corporate website, the success of his designs
within fashion circles and celebrities organically provides
recognition.
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 Photo Source: http://www.lvmh.fr/lvmh-news/news#/news/435:

14. Top 7 Most Searched Brands in the SHOE
HERITAGE Category (24)
Christian Louboutin 44.89%
Jimmy Choo 11.10%
Salvatore Ferragamo 7.42%
Tod's 6.96%
Bally 6.07%
Kurt Geiger 4.81%
Manolo Blahnik 4.60%
Others (17) 14.14%
DLG –October 2010 to September 2011
• Christian Louboutin rocks the Web
• Jimmy Choo, Bally, and Manolo Blahnik combined represent
only half the amount of searches for Christian Louboutin
14
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 Photo Source: http://theculturedkids.blogspot.com/2010_06_01_

15. Top 7 Most Searched Brands in the NEW
PLAYERS Category (10)
Alexander Wang 29.57%
Brian Atwood 27.19%
Charlotte Olympia 18.16%
Nicholas Kirkwood 10.79%
Camilla Skovgaard 4.62%
Alexandre Birman 3.41%
Derek Lam 2.62%
Others (3) 3.64%
DLG –October 2010 to September 2011
• Two very tight players with more than 50% of market share
combined, Alexander Wang and Brian Atwood.
• Charlotte Olympia holds the third position with nearly 20% of
the search volume.
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 15
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 Photo Source: http://magwood.ca/blog/wp-content/uploads/

16. Brand Engagement and Popularity on Facebook
0.9%
Rene Caovilla
0.7%
Engagement Rate
0.5% Roger Vivier
Walter Steiger
Louboutin
Sergio Rossi
0.3%
Giuseppe Zanotti Ferragamo
Gina Shoes Charlotte Olympia
Jimmy Choo
0.1% Stuart Weitzman
GianMarco Lorenzi
Brian Atwood
-0.1% 0 200,000 400,000 600,000 800,000
Fans
• Jimmy Choo and Louboutin communities on Facebook are 4x larger than all
the other brands represented in this graph combined
• Brands like Gucci, Chanel and Dior (not on the graph) respectively account
for an online community of 5.5, 4.7, and 5.3 million fans, each with an
average engagement of 0.12%, 0.14% and 0.32% - Dior largely dominates the
debate!
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 16
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 Photo Source: http://youstrikemyfancy.files.wordpress.com/

17. Brand Engagement and Popularity on Twitter
0.4%
Charlotte Olympia
0.3%
Engagement Rate
0.2% Alexander Wang
Stuart Weitzman
Louboutin
Giuseppe Zanotti
0.1% Sergio Rossi
Walter Steiger
Pierre Hardy Jimmy Choo
0.0%
-10,000 10,000 30,000 50,000 70,000 90,000 110,000 130,000 150,000
Followers
• Once again Christian Louboutin shows digital superiority on Twitter with a
community 3 times that of Jimmy Choo and a much higher engagement rate
• Charlotte Olympia and Alexander Wang have a qualitative community with a
very high engagement rate
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 17
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 Photo Source:http://ritournelleblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/

18. “A good shoe is one that doesn't
dress you but undresses you.”
- Christian Louboutin
18
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011

19. METHODOLOGY
Search Queries
Extracted from search engines, the search queries collected encompass a large semantic field
related to the brands and include synonyms, plurals and misspellings.
Languages
Portions of these search queries are in English whereas some are translated from each key
market language.
Data Collection and Analysis
Public and professional tools are used to automate search volume collection, thanks to DLG’s
strong partnerships with search engines. Once collected, this data is filtered, analysed and
translated into 10 intentions (brands, models, distribution, price, colour, etc…) using
exclusive DLG technology.
Harmonization
Since multi-product brands, such as Chanel, Dior or Gucci, may generate significantly more
search volume than pure players, data is harmonized to identify shoes-only demand.
Facebook & Twitter engagement rates
The engagement rate is a qualitative indicator measuring the level of interactivity between
the brand and its fans/followers.
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 19
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 Photo Source:http://ritournelleblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/

20. We create tailor-made digital strategies for the most
admired luxury brands
 10+ years of experience working for the most respected
luxury brands
 Industry leader in watches and fine jewelry
 Strong international presence with partners in
Geneva, New York, Shanghai, Dubai
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 20

21. Contact Us
shoes@digital-luxury.com
www.digital-luxury.com
@DL_Group
© Digital Luxury Group, DLG SA, 2011 21

22. The Luxury Shoe Industry
Analysis of Consumers’ Search Intentions and
Brands’ Social Media Presence
www.digital-luxury.com
NEW YORK | GENEVA | DUBAI | SHANGHAI