Today, we're proud to share a LinkedIn article authored by Christophe Plouseau, CIO/DSI, Louis Vuitton Malletier, detailing our partnership in bringing magical product experiences to the luxury category.
Below you'll find the full translated article. In it, Cristophe beautifully outlines how vision and tenacity are keys to delivering the personalization and emotion critical to the luxury buying experience. Thank you, Cristophe, for trusting Threekit to deliver along the journey!
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Full Article:
Luxury is personalization, exclusivity and emotion: three notions which, at first glance, seem difficult to express in a digital world but which are crucial in the omni-channel experience of Maison Louis Vuitton customers. A challenge worthy of the world number one in luxury!
Personalization at the heart of the Louis Vuitton sales ceremony
Within the Maison Louis Vuitton, we have always made sure to offer personalization experiences that are as rich as possible, whether in store or on our virtual flagship store.
However, if the task is easy in the store thanks to the intimate support of the sales consultant, it is on the other hand much more difficult to transcribe this retail experience for an Internet user alone in front of his screen. Indeed, the constraints of digital in the luxury experience are legion: it is not possible to touch or manipulate it, not to mention that the combinations of personalization can be almost infinite.
To recreate this memorable moment for the customer, the challenge remains knowing how to present the product, magnify it and above all present the customization options on a Vuitton product in all their completeness.
This digital presentation of the luxury item can serve the customer both on the internet and in stores and is therefore omnichannel by nature: the product is not always available when the customer visits the store, while it is not is not always possible to show him the whole set of combinations.
At Louis Vuitton, the “customizable” product can be a rigid canvas, an exotic leather, a pair of shoes, a watch or even a diamond. In all cases, faced with highly complex products, the quality of visual restitution remains key.
This execution excellence must go hand in hand with technological performance issues. As the customer is increasingly nomadic and mobile, this image quality must be ensured regardless of the terminal used or the quality of the bandwidth available to the customer at a given time.
Threekit: 3D modeling at the height of Louis Vuitton products
Louis Vuitton has been offering customization options for several years with conclusive results. However, the options have so far been limited to 2D modeling, which somewhat hindered the customer's projection in the acquisition of their future Louis Vuitton product.
This is where we found in Threekit the ideal partner to accompany us.
Indeed, this startup offers a powerful engine for configuring and generating 3D images with a quality of visual rendering equal to Louis Vuitton products.
Not only does the solution allow teams to model and animate 3D objects, but it also renders a high level of detail.
Another advantage: Threekit's technology is omnichannel-native.
In other words, it is easily and quickly integrable on a website, a native application and social networks. In addition, the Threekit platform is simple enough to be manipulated by operational management, which can thus define the rules for configuring its product.
Our collaboration with Threekit revolved around two flagship products of the House: our travel trunk, on the one hand, and our jewelry offer, on the other.
The Louis Vuitton 3D travel trunk, more real than ever
We first called on Threekit, in early 2022, to model one of our rigid products that is among the most subject to customization: our iconic travel trunk.
This large trunk is both prodigious by the know-how necessary for its manufacture and its size (1m10) but also by the customization options it offers. The customer can thus choose the number of drawers, their colors, the pulls, the exterior, or even affix their initials.
To set up this unique digital experience, we first observed how the customer interacted with the trunk in the store. This fine observation allowed us to start from the field to define the actions and animations possible with the 3D object.
We then, co-defined with Threekit, the experience we wanted to offer the customer. We really wanted to put ourselves in his shoes so that he could manipulate the trunk in its digital version as if he were facing a physical object.
The customer can thus zoom in, zoom out, change the interior trim, add a zipper or even add a drawer... A long-term job insofar as the 3D scanning of the first trunk required 4 to 5 months of work. Today, the digitization and 3D animation of new trunks, now accelerated, is only a matter of one to two weeks.
A diamond still sparkling beyond the screen
Following the success encountered with our trunk journey, last summer we continued our collaboration with Threekit, this time on our jewelry personalization offer. This concerns our new offer of diamonds which can be mounted on rings, earrings or even necklaces. For our rings, the customer has the possibility to engrave his initials, a date or even special characters which are symbols of love and longevity (especially in Mandarin).
More than on the travel trunk, we had to work with the Threekit teams on the light, so as to restore the colors and reflections of our diamonds as perfectly as possible.
Here again, this 3D modeling made it possible to offer products present in the offer but which were not necessarily available in stores or even to manufacture products on demand.
To guarantee the certificate of origin of the product and add security to the comfort of the experience, we have made the link with a blockchain.
This virtual engraving is thus complemented by enhanced traceability by means of the blockchain. A technological alliance between 3D configuration and blockchain that allows Louis Vuitton to share an unparalleled experience in the world of luxury.
Reactivity and tenacity: the recipes for a successful collaboration with Louis Vuitton
Making such a partnership a success requires real closeness coupled with real trust. The Threekit teams have given themselves the means, by providing the House with a team of dedicated product experts. This regular contact with the DSI and the Digital Design teams has greatly facilitated the evolution of the
Threekit solution in a spirit of co-innovation.
What I retain more generally is that technology is never an end in itself: it must always be at the service of an experience. Integration with Louis Vuitton's IS is also a key element of success. Indeed, the difficulty comes as much from 3D modeling as from scaling it up to cover the full richness of the LV product offer.
It is now the operational staff who load the images, who define their configuration rules, which means that the technological aspect is masked through the ergonomics of the tool.
The second point is that excellence in execution remains the result of many iterations. The Threekit teams have also been exemplary on this point, not afraid to start over until they arrive at an object that matches Louis Vuitton quality.
Result: Thanks to this 3D experience, we recorded a much higher transformation rate than what we had in 2D.
To conclude, I would say that the quality of the visual and virtual rendering of the Threekit solution as well as the co-innovation approach that we have adopted with our partner are totally in line with Louis Vuitton's values of excellence and innovation.
The result is up to our omnichannel ambition, we are also in the process of expanding to other product universes…….…. Successful bet for LV!
I invite all startups who wish to collaborate with the Group and its Houses and join the LVMH stand at VivaTech from June 14 to 17 to apply for the challenge here: https://challenges.vivatechnology.com/en/challenges/lvmh
