Givenchy, McCartney sales surge on Net-A-Porter after royal wedding

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
May 31, 2018

Who said celebrity endorsement isn’t important for a brand? Net-A-Porter has come up with proof that it is and has shown that if the celebrity is also a royal, the endorsement is worth so much more. It seems the Meghan Markle effect has already started to benefit Givenchy and Stella McCartney, who were the big names to dress Markle on her wedding day, on the luxury e-tail site.

Net-A-Porter has said that sales of both brands have soared since May 19 when the now-Duchess of Sussex wore Givenchy to walk down the aisle and also a McCartney halter neck gown for her evening reception.

On the three days following the wedding, sales of Givenchy were three times higher than they had been on the trio of days leading up to the event. The LVMH-owned label's £380 Givenchy logo T-shirt was among the top sellers, as was a £1,565 black moiré minidress.

That certainly highlights the importance of getting any label in front of consumers at giant photo opportunities such as royal weddings and other red carpet events. 

Meanwhile the McCartney dress received exposure that was almost as wide and benefitted from not being surrounded by the ‘noise’ of all those other well-dressed wedding guests earlier in the day. When the couple emerged from Windsor Castle on the evening of May 19, the white dress really stood out. With Prince Harry in a perfect tuxedo suit and the vintage E-Type Jaguar they chose to drive to their reception, it was a dream piece of publicity for any brand.

And the knock-on effect at Net-A-Porter? The e-tailer said that full-price sales of the McCartney label rose around 50% and one of its best sellers was a dress that was as close to Markle’s exclusive design as anyone was able to get - a one-shoulder cady white dress that sold for £2,250.

News of the high sales comes just days after Meghan Markle’s first public post-wedding appearance drove the Goat dress that she was wearing to sell out both on the brand’s own website and on Matchesfashion.