Van Cleef & Arpels

Different buyers. No common way to talk about them.

Van Cleef & Arpels attracted buyers with fundamentally different relationships to the Maison — from highly initiated collectors with deep brand knowledge to aspirational first-time buyers navigating the ultra-luxury context for the first time. Without a formalised profile framework, every market team was making experience decisions based on a different implicit buyer model.

Identify and formalise four buyer profiles from the BXP analysis.

The four buyer profiles were identified and formalised from the BXP analysis, based on luxury purchase motivations, emotional expectations and relationship to the Maison. Each profile was documented with its decision triggers, experience expectations, emotional drivers and key touchpoints — giving the Maison a consistent language for experience decisions across markets.

Four profiles. One shared framework across 5 markets.

The buyer profile framework gave Van Cleef & Arpels teams in 5 markets a common analytical language. Experience decisions could now be evaluated against specific buyer expectations rather than a generalised luxury consumer model.

Brand promise and experience reality were not always aligned.

The gap between what Van Cleef & Arpels promised as a brand and what different buyer profiles actually experienced at key touchpoints was unmapped. Without this understanding, experience improvements were being made without prioritisation logic.

Map the gaps between promise and experience for each buyer profile.

The BXP diagnostic mapped the experience reality against the brand promise for each of the four buyer profiles across the key touchpoints — digital discovery, consideration, purchase and post-purchase relationship. Gap severity and opportunity value were assessed for each profile and market.

A prioritised map of experience opportunities across 5 markets.

The gap analysis gave Van Cleef & Arpels a structured, evidence-based view of where experience investment would have the highest impact for each buyer profile — replacing assumption-driven decisions with a framework grounded in actual buyer expectations.

Market teams making experience decisions without a shared strategic framework.

Without a governing BXP strategy, market teams were making experience decisions independently — creating variation in brand experience quality and missing opportunities for cross-market learning and coherence.

Create a BXP framework that works as both a diagnostic and a governance tool.

The BXP framework was designed to serve two purposes: as a diagnostic tool for analysing current experience performance, and as a governance framework for future experience decisions. Experience principles derived from the buyer profiles gave teams a consistent decision-making language across markets.

AVA Digital Awards Platinum. A framework adopted across 5 markets.

The BXP work was recognised with an AVA Digital Awards Platinum. More significantly, it gave Van Cleef & Arpels a strategic framework that teams across 5 markets could use to align experience decisions with specific buyer expectations.