Do words like exclusive, private, dues, waiting list and members-only excite you? If so, you’re not alone. Do they make you anxious or even angry? Ditto. This is a tension I hear about every day from friends, acquaintances and family. And it’s also an interesting driver of a very little understood kind of luxury business: the private club.
One of the most important luxury events of the year is the annual Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance vintage automotive show (the name means “a competition of elegance” in French). It’s held on the California coastline the third week of August each year, on the 18th hole of the Pebble Beach golf course, and it attracts car owners, restoration experts and car buffs. Imagine your local annual auto show, at your city’s convention center. On massive amounts of steroids. That’s what this is like.
There are thousands of ways in which tech is having a significant impact on the luxury industry and on its consumers. As we mine this territory on Dandelion Chandelier, I’m going to organize our conversations around four significant ways in which the tech world has already changed the luxury business, and how it is likely to continue to do so.
