Kering is gearing up to offer its own luxury eCommerce sites within the next two years, ending existing joint-venture efforts and bringing such operations in house, reported Reuters.
The move means that the company will end its JV that has been in place since 2013 with Yoox Net-A-Porter, which as the newswire stated helps third-party brands develop sites.
By 2020, Kering will bring full control of its luxury brands online through its own internal activities, which include building tech teams, said Reuters. The company will work with Apple on apps, said MarketWatch. The apps will be used by sales assistants to scan their inventories.
The Monday (November 26) announcement illustrates how some luxury brands are making the leap to commerce done in bits and bytes, and sidestepping previous concerns about brand dilution, said reports. Now, those retailers taking full eCommerce ops in house have, in turn, full access to sensitive data tied to clients.
Yoox Net-A-Porter had managed eCommerce presence for seven Kering brands, including Alexander McQueen.
Ahead of the 2020 end to the JV, Yoox Net-A-Porter will manage the online stores for more than 20 clients of its own, ranging from Armani to Moncler, noted Reuters.
Online sales were about 6 percent of Kering’s 6.4 billion annual turnover through the first six months of the year, and were up 80 percent as measured year on year, outpacing sales growth in brick-and-mortar operations.
MarketWatch noted that Kering is creating a team in China that will be focused on tech and will be dedicated to “adapting digital practices to the Chinese market, along with identifying and promoting innovations from China to other markets.” The company has said that all of its brands are in the midst of program launches that will boost interaction with Chinese customers across WeChat, the messaging and social media app.