Luxury brands make sure they look after their customers, at least in the high street. Online, it is another story. A recent article in the Financial Times shows that some of the smartest names in retailing struggle to work out how to use the web to interact with their clientele.

On the whole, luxury brands have neglected the potential of the Internet. Many luxury brands still prove poor at offering personalised custom service online, a keystone of what makes their brand high-end instores.

Are these brands underestimating how new technology and social networking tools can help build personal relationships and loyalty between visitors and the brand across global markets?
A missed opportunity for global connectivity or protection of the luxury brand? Therein lies the tension inherent in an online outlet: how do you expand your brand to mass consumers while retaining high-value buyers? For high-end luxury brands known for exclusivity, does an online presence make a brand too accessible?

aSmallWorld is an online social network service similar to Facebook. Also called “Snobster” by critics, it is an exclusive invitation-only network with roughly 250,000 members.

Founded in 2004 by by Swedish banker and globetrotter Erik Wachtmeister, the network is mainly about lifestyle, society, celebrities: Naomi Campbell, Ivanka Trump, Quentin Tarantino, Paris Hilton, Tiger Woods, Prince Emanuele Filiberto Di Savoia and James Blunt are among the members.

SmallWorld shares many features with other social network services, such as profiles, an event calendar, private messaging and allows users to list multiple cities as their location of residence. Members can also buy, and sell items (Bugatti Veyron, Caviar, etc…) using aSmallWorld’s private forums or even rent property or find a flatmate.

People must be invited to join. Only certain members of the club have the privilege to invite other members and five members must approve your existence before you’re “in.” (since it’s difficult to verify wealth levels)

Admins closely monitor the network : Rules state that members aren’t allowed to “annoy, harass or unreasonably disturb members, or try to connect to members with whom you have no previous contact.” aSmallWorld kick out members who engage in improper behavior (like networking rapidly with the celebrities or selling products too aggressively).

Members are not allowed to discuss the inner goings-on of aSmallWorld on any outside website”. Problematic users are immediately exiled to a separate network called aBigWorld;

” However, it’s very difficult to build a network based solely on wealth,” says Stephen Martiros, a managing director of a coalition of rich families based in Boston. “You might start with a few wealthy people, but as you grow it eventually reverts to the mean. And once that happens, the wealthy leave. If you have one guy worth $100 million sitting at a table with a guy worth $1 million, only one of them is going to be excited to be there.”

Besides, membership invitations or passwords to the site can be easily purchased on eBay. Some angry users have therefore posted hilarious comments that THE WALL STREET JOURNAL brought to us :

“Who invites these people? We should be selective who to invite. What about quality control?”

“There is no reason why when we come online we should have to socialize with truck drivers”

“One of my friends told me that the site has lowered so much its level, that she has invited her maids.”