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Research

Digital IQ INDEX®

Watches & Jewelry

The Digital IQ Index® Watches & Jewelry study ranks the digital competence of 35 prestige brands across four dimensions: Site, Digital Marketing, Social Media, and Mobile. Authored by L2, the study measures the brands’ digital efforts against more than 350 data points and classifies them into five categories: Genius, Gifted, Average, Challenged, or Feeble.

“The Watches & Jewelry industry is running out of time online. In our first study measuring the category in isolation, nearly two-thirds of brands are classified as Challenged or Feeble. Although these brands are beginning to invest in social media and mobile, transaction-orientation and digital marketing competence such as search, email, and retargeting lag other industries.”
—Scott Galloway

Key Findings

Closed for Business: Just 29 percent of brands in the Index boast e-commerce capabilities. However, in a category where third-party distribution is not going away anytime soon, the missed opportunity online to drive customers to offline retail is even more disappointing.

Dipping Their Toes In: All but three brands in the Index now maintain a presence on Facebook, with communities averaging more than 200,000 fans. Mobile site adoption is up from just seven percent in 2010 to 39 percent this year. In addition, brands are beginning to abandon flash-heavy sites that are difficult to navigate in favor of more streamlined experiences that are more searchable, shareable, and product-centric.

Hubris: With a YouTube channel launch and updates to its iPad, Cartier is one of this year’s biggest winners; however, the brand still only notches an Average IQ classification. The biggest disappointment is industry heavyweight Rolex, which has fallen from Gifted in 2009 to Feeble this year. Iconic brands are falling behind.

In Search of Search: Less than half of brands included in the study are purchasing their own brand keywords, and thus fail to appear in the top-three paid ads of their search pages. Instead, e-tailers, flash-sale sites, and discounters are seizing this valuable search engine real estate. Google is another “door to the store.” By not addressing paid ads, brands are essentially displaying discounted merchandise in the windows of their largest retail locations.