Farfetch, a global e-commerce platform for the fashion industry, received a $397m investment from Chinese e-commerce company JD.com (Nasdaq:JD).
The strategic partnership aims to create the premier platform for luxury e-commerce across China, opening a gateway to an $80bn market. As part of this partnership, JD.com will become one of the largest shareholders of Farfetch, and Richard Liu, JD.com’s founder and CEO, will join the Farfetch board. JD and Farfetch will partner on marketing, logistics and technology solutions to build the brand in China, while Farfetch will continue to be the customer-facing brand.
Farfetch has established operations in China and is already the partner of choice for 200 luxury brands and more than 500 multi-brand retailers. The combined strength of the Farfetch-JD partnership will benefit all 700 brands and boutiques that are part of the Farfetch community, enabling them to take advantage of the resources of this new gateway to China’s luxury market.
Farfetch partner brands with a local retail presence will also have access to omni-channel capabilities, including click & collect and in-store returns, connecting the brands’ physical retail stores in China to consumers.
The joint efforts will also include leveraging BlackDragon, a digital marketing technology platform powering entities across retail, e-commerce, tech, finance, travel, education and auto. In addition, Farfetch users in China will also gain access to a variety of services from JD Finance. These will include JD Pay, which will be a preferred payments partner, and Baitiao, JD Finance’s popular consumer microcredit channel.
Led by José Neves, Founder, Co-Chairman and CEO, Farfetch is a global platform for luxury which partners with over 700 luxury boutiques and brands, located globally. The group consists of Farfetch.com, the e-commerce marketplace for luxury; Farfetch Black & White; a white label e-commerce solution for luxury retailers and Store of The Future; a suite of retail solutions to enhance the customer journey by connecting the online and offline worlds.
The website and apps serve customers in 10 languages with offices in 11 cities globally. In 2017, the company launched Store to Door in 90 Minutes, in exclusive partnership with Gucci available in 10 cities across 4 continents while, and a global content and commerce partnership with Condé Nast to create an editorial shopping experience from inspiration to shopping gratification.
Farfetch is backed by tech and luxury investors including IDG Capital Partners, Temasek, Eurazeo, DST Global, Index Ventures, Vitruvian Partners and Condé Nast International.
FinSMEs
22/06/2017