French couture house Chanel and Farfetch, the José Neves founded luxury e-commerce company are teaming up. Chanel has taken a minority stake in London-based e-tailer Farfetch as part of a deal to develop digital services such as chats to connect the label’s clients with store assistants. With many fashion brands and luxury goods companies worldwide look for ways to incorporate e-commerce into their business models and expand their digital services to court younger or more tech-savvy clients, Chanel is taking a different approach in connecting with its customers via its physical brick and mortar locations by tapping into Farfetch’s digital prowess.
Privately-owned Chanel, has been one of the few luxury companies slow in the industry push to move more shopping online by deciding not to roll out web sales of its clothing and leather goods. Though under the new deal, the label will not sell its merchandise through Farfetch but would work with the platform in coming years on digital innovations linked to customer services, said Bruno Pavlovsky, Chanel’s fashion president.
“This is about how to enrich our relationship with our customers.” -Bruno Pavlovsky
These could include smartphone applications allowing people to flag their preferences and sizes online before entering a store, meaning assistants can cater to their needs, or help them locate an item spotted in a magazine for instance, he said. Farfetch’s platform connects buyers to luxury fashion items from more 700 boutiques worldwide.
Days before the Chanel announcement, Farfetch announced a partnership with London Heritage brand Burberry. Earlier in the month it was reported that Farfetch has entered into a joint venture with Chalhoub Group ahead of a $5 billion IPO that is set for September 2018.
“The challenge for our luxury industry is that our clients are used to ultra-personalized experiences, when you walk into a store, people don’t know you.” -Farfetch’s founder and CEO José Neves
In April 2017, at the Condé Nast International Luxury Conference, Farfetch founder José Neves spoke about his vision for a future retail experience, where advancements in technology (including virtual reality) would start to free up time and can help make the consumer experience more human.
source: Reuters
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