During and immediately after the Covid-19 pandemic, the luxury fashion category experienced significant growth globally, powered primarily by rising consumer demand in Asia for high-end luxury goods and one-of-a-kind design. From 2021 to 2022, spending in China alone on luxury fashion grew by 36%, sending shares of groups such as LVMH and Kering soaring (The Business of Fashion, 2022). But all good things must come to an end. Sales have flatlined since the start of 2024, and the pressure is on to do more with less, without losing the precious connection these brands have built with consumers (The Business of Fashion, 2024).

In this climate, only those luxury brands that have a robust customer-centric strategy will thrive and remain profitable. In the luxury segment — renowned for creativity, quality, and prestige — brands face increasing challenges and intense consumer expectations. With an overwhelming number of options available, consumers are no longer satisfied with simply the product itself — they crave unique, immersive experiences that fulfil their needs and desires, that seamlessly connect across the entire omnichannel ecosystem.

At Adobe, we've defined four critical pillars that brands must address in tandem to succeed: content, curation, community, and collaboration. Each pillar is rooted in emerging trends that reflect how consumers — especially in the luxury space — engage with brands and the world around them.

Content drives engagement.

Every customer brings unique tastes, experiences, opinions, and values, making content personalization not just complex, but indispensable. Fashion brands, each with their own story, aesthetic, and values, must carefully determine how, when, and where to engage their audience. The key to building strong consumer relationships lies in the content a brand creates to enhance engagement and awareness.

Demand for content is expected to grow fivefold over the next two years (Adobe customer experience and marketing professionals survey, 2023). This includes marketing campaigns, events, brand strategy, and immersive product catalogs featuring high-quality photos, videos, 3D models, and storytelling elements. This is an enormous quantity of content that a brand must generate at scale and distribute across a complex omnichannel ecosystem. We calculate it as: (y) products x (y) digital assets per product x (y) markets x (y) millions of customers and context.

So how do we solve for such a monumental task in this complex environment with all the commercial pressure brands are facing today? Introducing the AI-powered content supply chain. In today’s digital landscape, AI-powered tools now enable retail brands to have 99% lower asset retrieval time, from 5-7 days to 10 minutes (Adobe, 2025). Enabling easy access to branded content accelerates time-to-market and allows fashion brands to connect in real-time with their customers, especially when activated using capabilities like Adobe Real-Time Customer Data Platform.

Curation to connection.

By curating experiences, brands can segment and tailor campaigns based on their consumers' preferred channels, ensuring a consistent, on-brand narrative across both physical and digital platforms. Research shows that consumers' interactions with brands in retail are more complex than ever — with at least 7 interactions before conversion (marketingsherpa, 2015), including within LLMs such as Gemini or ChatGPT. This underscores the importance of an interconnected, omnichannel strategy on a global scale, which can adapt to a rapidly evolving ecosystem.

Consumers are traveling more than ever — data shows that over 80% of travelers make fashion purchases during their trips (The State of Fashion, 2024). Fashion brands now face the technical challenge of delivering localized experiences at scale while leveraging mobile and digital tools to enhance seamless customer interactions. Through curated experiences, fashion brands can capture customers’ data in real-time and create seamless engagements. For example, Prada is enabling in-store sales assistants to know what a prospect or customer has browsed on prada.com so they can recommend better products and give a better personalized experience (Adobe, 2023).

Communities through personalization at scale.

Authenticity and trust are vital for niche communities centred around sustainability, sports, entertainment, nationality, or age. These communities present unique opportunities for brands to craft targeted campaigns that genuinely resonate. Research indicates that 64% of brands and agencies consider compelling messaging and storytelling to be the most effective creative tactic (Emarketer, 2024). The concept of "community" has gained significant traction as fashion brands seek to unlock the potential of these groups and expand their reach.

A great example with cultural roots is the Zara’s mother-daughter livestream featuring Cindy Crawford and Kaia Gerber, which leveraged the emotional and social connection that fashion promotes (WWD, 2024). Loyalty programs also play a crucial role, with brands offering point-based rewards and exclusive money-can't-buy experiences that customers can share with their close circles. Leveraging marketing technology (such as Adobe Customer Journey Analytics, Adobe Real-Time Customer Data Platform, or Adobe Target) and content is essential to build connections and ensure brands deliver authenticity and trust-driven stories to the right audience at the right time across channels.

Collaborate to innovate.

Today’s consumers are particularly drawn to bold and creative content, often fueled by cross-industry collaborations. Currently, 70% of the internet operates without third-party cookies, making data collaboration a critical factor in effective targeting (Axios, 2024). Fashion brands are increasingly partnering with sectors such as sports, Formula 1, and entertainment to reach new audiences. Notable collaborations in 2024 include the partnership between Ray-Ban and Meta (retail + tech) and LVMH’s collaboration with the Olympic Games (retail + sports). Beyond the initial buzz, these partnerships offer valuable opportunities for data sharing within the privacy-secure environment of a clean room, enabling brands to gain deeper insights into consumer behavior and further personalize experiences.

A 4C strategy = 5* experience.

Content does not market itself — it must be strategically leveraged to create curated experiences across channels, foster communities around brand values, and enable collaboration between brands. By embracing these strategies, fashion brands can ensure long-term success in an increasingly competitive landscape.

As a next step, Adobe can support this journey by providing integrated tools and insights that enable fashion brands to streamline content creation, personalize experiences at scale, and measure impact across channels — all within a unified platform.

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