Reshaping Luxury
Luxury e-tailer Farfetch plans to recast the brick-and-mortar experience.
Luxury has been one of the slowest segments to embrace e-commerce. The online portion of personal luxury goods purchases accounts for 8% today and is expected to plateau around a fifth of all sales by 2025, implying that offline will remain the cornerstone of luxury retail.
This does not mean that the luxury market isn’t evolving. In a seemingly surprising move, Chanel has announced its partnership with online luxury e-tailer Farfetch to reshape its brick and mortar stores. Farfetch sells luxury goods from more than 700 brands and boutiques to shoppers worldwide. Since 2015, Farfetch has expanded its domain offline, refining a prototype called Store of the Future to make offline shopping easier and more seamless. The prototype employs digital mirrors and mobile-operated payment systems; shoppers can book private shopping appointments via their WhatsApp or WeChat accounts, flag a wish list on their phones as they walk in, and alert store associates via mobile that they’re not feeling chatty.
While Chanel is clearly looking to tap into Farfetch’s prowess to augment its in-store experience, Burberry has teamed up with Farfetch to make all of its products available to internet shoppers globally as it goes through an overhaul putting itself “firmly in luxury”.
Sources: Business of Fashion (February 15, 2018) | WWD (February 18, 2018) | L2 Daily Insights (February 6, 2018) | Image: Laura Pittaccio