Céline moves into e-commerce with launch of celine.com

London- One of the last luxury fashion houses to shun an online store has finally ventured into e-commerce: Céline. The French fashion house, owned by luxury company LVMH, is taking on an omnichannel business model with the launch of its renewed website celine.com, marking the first time the luxury label offers all its products for sale online.

Céline is first launching e-commerce in France in order to test the waters, with plans to roll out it out to Europe and the US in 2018, and later in Japan in 2019, according to WWD. Celine.com's launch will be communicated to French consumers through the means of a new digital campaign which will be unveiled in France from mid-December onwards.

The new, minimalistic design of the website links back to the luxury fashion house's sleek brand image curated by its creative director Phoebe Philo. As the only online webshop for Céline, the platform also offers a list of related customer services, such as the option for click and collection in store, in-store returns, booking in-store appointments or scheduling in an at home collection.

"E-commerce is launching as planned with ambitious business objectives, but also as a key tool to increase visibility, recruit new clients and provide a full service to our clients who are looking for a global experience, mixing digital and physical touchpoints," said a spokesperson for the brand to WWD.

The launch of celine.com comes days after speculation concerning Céline's shift online re-emerged. The move sees Céline join the likes of Gucci and Louis Vuitton in embracing e-commerce, as data from consultancy firm Bain predicts online sales of luxury goods to grow 24 percent in 2017.

Photo: Celine, website