Recently, the demise of Farfetch and Matches was announced, Mytheresa is considering going private and acquiring Net-a-porter, Moda Operandi is seeking investment, and luxury e-commerce retailers are losing their former strength. As WWD previously reported, “More than 25 years later, the fashion industry is still figuring out how to move its business online and profitably do so.”
Long Story Short is a private luxury shopping platform and app that requires a membership subscription and a monthly fee of $1,000. Long Story Short focuses on offering exclusive products and experiences that are not available anywhere else, focusing on its core customer base of wealthy and discerning individuals who can afford the membership fees.
Long Story Short's founder, Joe Einhorn, is best known for his social e-commerce platform Fancy, where he has worked exclusively with the likes of Hermès and counts Kering CEO François-Henri Pinault as an investor and board member.
The Long Story Short app works directly with brands, continuing longstanding relationships they've had while providing a concierge service and ensuring privacy by not sharing data with third parties. Einhorn said representatives from major luxury fashion brands are already on board with the app or are aware of it.
And given the rapid rise in popularity of private members-only clubs, it's no surprise that luxury e-commerce shoppers are looking for new ways to acquire the vintage and unique items that apps offer.
Here, WWD spoke with Einhorn about why he says the $1,000-per-month app will break even, the volatile nature of luxury e-commerce and its failed evolution, and his rule: “Everything is for sale, and everything is possible.”
Joe Einhorn, creator of Long Story Short.
WWD: In your own words, what is a “Long Story Short”?
Joe Einhorn: Long Story Short is a private online luxury shopping platform comprised of a growing collection of people, products and experiences. Unlike typical one-dimensional online luxury platforms, LSS is defined by four dimensions: discovery, convenience, reliability and interest alignment.
DISCOVERY: A huge variety of products added daily, featuring the experience and perspective of our experts. CONVENIENCE: Shop the world's coolest products across brands, categories and price ranges, all in one place. AUTHENTICITY: Shop anonymously and get the best possible prices. INTEREST ALIGNNANCE: We waive profits from sales to purely align the interests of luxury brands and our members.
WWD: The digital luxury e-commerce model has been forced to adapt and evolve amid the pandemic and current economic turmoil and often shutdowns. What are the benefits of a “private club” or membership-based model?
JE: Looking back 30 years to the dawn of the consumer internet, there are no enduring success stories in online luxury. What worked for Amazon or eBay doesn't work for anyone else. To shape an enduring online luxury industry, we need a leading institution that can put good outcomes for consumers above its own profits. We want Long Story Short to become that institution. As a private club, we aim to build value for our members, not shareholders.
WWD: How is the app different from traditional e-commerce and resale models?
JE: Traditional e-commerce platforms prioritize paying high fees to buy hit-and-run customers from Google and Facebook using bait-and-switch advertising, then charging high fees to vendors and consumers to cover the associated costs. LSS does not make any profit from orders. We only make profit from membership fees.
We are committed to delighting our members by providing them with the best products and experiences in the world. We allow members to conveniently shop across all genres in one session, and provide a buffer between them and the “wild wild web” by handling the negotiation and purchasing on their behalf. For traditional e-commerce platforms, the key success metric is how much profit margin they can make on a sale. For LSS, the key success metric is member satisfaction.
iPhone app Long Story Short.
WWD: For a $1,000/month membership, what's the ROI for users?
JE: Time. We find great products and experiences from all over the world, across all genres, and bring them all together in an enjoyable format for our members to shop, all in one place, saving them time spent searching and buying.
Discretion. We act as a buffer between our members and the wild web. No random person will ever know who you are, what you are buying, or who you are buying for. In addition to protecting your privacy, this is very much about security. We live in a world where hackers only need your email address or phone number, your assistant or family member, to send you messages you never saw and steal everything.
Money. We don't make a profit from your orders. If a member is interested in a watch and asks us to find a watch that would normally cost $100,000, we'll try to get it for them for $80,000. But due to the flaws in the market economics of online shopping in 2024, that watch might be listed for $120,000. Even if you spent $1 million and saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars on a single order, we'd be happy to limit your monthly membership fee to $1,000.
How does the app cater to its affluent clientele in terms of providing privacy and a luxurious experience? How does the concierge service work?
JE: Everything is for sale. Everything is available. Everything is possible. Members can browse our selection and, if what they want isn't listed on LSS or anywhere else, they can direct us to go find it, even if it's just a concept. Once you decide you want something, it's our job to negotiate and get you the best price possible. We don't share information about you with any dealers, but we do share all the information with you, including who we got your piece from, where we got it, its provenance, and the price.
WWD: What do you think about the future of luxury e-commerce?
JE: Online luxury is the last great opportunity on the consumer internet. Everyone has given up. Everything else has been solved. Thirty years later, e-commerce still contributes only a trickle to global luxury sales. LSS will solve this problem and eventually the entire luxury business will move online, between pure e-commerce and integrated e-commerce (e.g. brick-and-mortar sales in-store with an app for payments in-store).
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