The fashion world is celebrating 2016’s New York Fashion Week this week. The prestigious event will be parading the latest trends and styles of the season, attracting A-Listers, industry insiders and shoppers alike.

As well as traditional media coverage, the event will be broadcasting the catwalk live via live stream, immediately engaging users via multiple platforms, as the week highlights how luxury brands are using digital to reach customers.

As well as the live stream, Fashion Week has established an online presence on social media – specifically using Snapchat to show exclusive stories following the catwalks, bringing the world of luxury fashion to customers worldwide and giving much coveted insight to the behind-the-scenes nature of it.

Burberry is heading the charge, having invested over 60 per cent of its marketing budget on digital. According to Contactlab’s “Digital and Physical Integration: Luxury Retail’s Holy Grail” study, Burberry is also bringing together online and offline operations, with click & collect already representing 15 per cent of Burberry’s online sales.

“Brands should not consider each channel as separate, but simultaneously valuable to the overall omni-channel experience. Customers want ease and comfort and so if they find a product on one channel, they should be able to seamlessly navigate through the purchasing process with convenience. This is why it is important that brands do not disconnect the different channels, but connect the dots as part of their customer engagement strategy” senior advisor of Contactlab, Marco Pozzi says.

Contactlab found in their Digital Frontier 2016 study that customers with a digital presence who are digitally contactable are high-spenders in-store and account for 27 per cent of in-store revenue and 73 per cent of e-commerce revenue. With the rise of e-commerce and digital engagement tools, luxury brands have access to customer data which will allows them to create a dynamic and personalised approach which integrates people preferences within the customer interactions. Through data-driven marketing, brands are able to create a richer understanding of the customers.

Marco Pozzi continues: “We now live in a world where everything is captured digitally through various platforms and the fashion world is no exception.  Fashion shows unfold live from SnapChat, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds. This narrows the gap between the consumer and brands, opening up a relationship which is more personalised. Shoppers now crave interaction with brands who understand their needs, preference and expectations, feeding in insights from customer data can help brands enhance their relationship with customers and make informed decision for their marketing strategies.”