Kering’s Pinault family is also putting funds into the new luxury retail venture.
The connections keep coming for José Neves.
The founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Farfetch, who has successfully planted himself at the intersection of luxury, e-commerce and physical retail, has solidified a partnership with Chinese giant Alibaba and European stalwart Compagnie Financière Richemont that just might transform high fashion.
In a landmark deal, Farfetch, Alibaba and Richemont will work together to offer “enhanced access to the China market,” but to also accelerate the digitization of the global luxury industry.
Farfetch will launch luxury shopping channels on Alibaba’s platforms, Tmall Luxury Pavilion and Luxury Soho, China’s premier luxury and luxury outlet destination within the Tmall marketplace, as well as Alibaba’s cross-border marketplace Tmall Global. The channels expand the reach of Farfetch’s global luxury platform to Alibaba’s 757 million consumers, offering luxury labels a multibrand solution through a single integration with Farfetch.
Luxury consumers will be able to shop either through the Farfetch integration or Richemont subsidiary Net-a-porter’s integration on Tmall Luxury Pavilion, which was set up last year.
It’s a complicated bit of dealmaking, with competitors, frenemies and high-powered players all in the mix — or interested parties — across two continents.