Kering said on Monday it would develop its own online shopping sites by 2020, ending an outsourcing joint-venture for brands like Balenciaga, showing how major luxury companies are speeding up their ecommerce plans.
After a slow start shifting sales onto the web, wary that it would dilute their brands’ image, high-end fashion and jewellery labels are rapidly building up their own tech teams.
Kering said it would end a joint venture with Yoox Net-A-Porter (YNAP) dating back to 2013, depriving the online retailer, which also helps third party brands develop their sites, of one of its biggest clients. The French company did not detail how much it would spend on developing its own online sites.
Kering’s decision to take more online activities in-house shows how industry players with financial muscle are deciding to build their own digital operations, giving them full access to information such as client data.
Kering also said on Monday it was working with Apple on applications for use by sales assistants, which will be used to scan inventories.
Kering’s online sales made up 6% of its £5.8 billion turnover in the first half of 2018, and grew by 80% in the third quarter, faster than revenue growth in department stores or its own shops.
