Why Can’t You Buy Chanel Online? The Best Way To Buy a Chanel Bag in 2024

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What’s the reason why you can’t buy Chanel bags online?

If you’re curious about why you can’t buy these Chanel products online, then check out the rest of this article for a detailed explanation. 

Take a quick glance at Chanel’s website and you’ll see all kinds of items for sale: makeup, perfume, and eyewear, just to name a few. What you won’t see are handbags, clothing, or shoes.

Why Can’t You Buy Chanel Online?

There are three main reasons why Chanel limits the types of products available on its website: brand strategy, exclusivity, and maintaining a luxury shopping experience. 

Keep reading for more details about each of these explanations. 

Brand Strategy 

For more than 10 years. Chanel’s brand strategy has had little to say in the way of e-commerce. While other luxury brands made the move towards online sales, Chanel has been staunch in its attitude toward e-commerce.  

That’s not to say the Maison has no online presence. In fact, with over 53 million followers on Instagram, Chanel has a bigger online audience than its closest competitors Hermès (12.4 million) and Louis Vuitton (50.2 million). 

What’s more, the brand has also partnered with luxury online sites like Farfetch and Net-a-Porter, as well as launched an app, Lipscanner, that allows customers to try cosmetics on virtually. 

Plus, Chanel does sell cosmetics, perfumes, and eyewear online. But despite increased online availability, the brand refuses to sell clothing, shoes, or jewelry online. 

This may seem like suicide in the era of e-commerce, but the strategy seems to be working so far. 

Indeed, the brand’s heritage, aura, value, and aspirational image have been strong enough to keep sales thriving. In 2021, Chanel reported $15.6 billion in revenue, representing a 49.6 percent increase compared to 2020 and a 22.9 percent increase compared to 2019. 

Given these figures, it’s clear that the brand’s reputation and desirability have actually increased over the past few years despite limited online offerings. 

It could also be argued that Chanel is playing the long game. Sure, they could potentially make more money by expanding their e-commerce presence but increased sales aren’t always the goal for luxury brands. 

Rather, by keeping its offerings exclusive, Chanel is preserving the quality of the brand and ensuring its profitability for years to come. 

Luxury Shopping As an Experience 

Another reason Chanel limits its online shopping options is because of the brand’s belief in luxury shopping as an experience. 

Chanel’s president Bruno Pavlovsky has been quite clear on this point from the get-go. In October 2020 he told Vogue Business:

“Today, e-commerce is a few clicks and products that are flat on a screen. There’s no experience. No matter how hard we work, no matter how much we look at what we can do, the experience is not at the level of what we want to offer our clients.”

In other words, Chanel believes shopping for luxury clothing involves trying items on, seeing them from multiple angles, and having them tailored. E-commerce doesn’t allow for this kind of experience, so the brand avoids it. 

To Maintain Exclusivity 

The third reason Chanel has such a limited e-commerce presence is to maintain exclusivity. If customers could simply hit ‘add to cart’ on a Classic Double Flap, it stands to reason that far more people would have them. 

So, by requiring customers to visit a boutique to purchase selected items, Chanel maintains the exclusivity and aura surrounding its stores. 

On a related note, Chanel uses what products it does have online to encourage shoppers to visit boutiques. 

By offering just a glimpse of higher-end products online, Chanel makes its offerings just accessible enough without allowing buyers the total satisfaction of making a purchase. 

In this way, the brand’s limited online offerings make more expensive products even more exclusive and desirable than they already are. 

It’s also worth noting that not selling products online makes prospective buyers talk—about why Chanel products aren’t available online, which products are sold online, and where they can buy Chanel bags on other sites. 

All of this talk is free press for Chanel and is another source of exclusivity.