London - Thanks to a partnership with London-based
fashion technology company Farfetch, you can soon get Gucci clothing and
accessories whisked to your door within 90 minutes.
Farfetch announced the partnership Wednesday, as the
company showcases what it’s calling "The Store of the Future" -
software and devices that aim to help luxury brands gather more information on
customers in stores and online.
Customers will be able to shop for select items of Kering-owned
Gucci goods via Farfetch’s app and website, and have those orders fulfilled
within 90 minutes from Gucci stores in London, New York, Dubai, Los Angeles,
Madrid, Miami, Milan, Paris, Sao Paulo and Tokyo.
The Gucci collaboration with Farfetch comes as
competition heats up in online luxury. In a call with investors Tuesday, LVMH’s
chief financial officer Jean-Jacques Guiony said the world’s largest luxury
group would be the latest to ramp up multi-brand e-commerce, considering a new
site for its luxury department store Le Bon Marché.
"Retailers need a way to collect information about
their customers while they are browsing in-store, just as they collect data
from online searches," Jose Neves, Farfetch’s founder and chief executive
officer, said in a statement.
Read also: Burberry is making fast fashion even faster
Founded in 2008 as an e-commerce platform for luxury
boutiques, Farfetch has increasingly positioned itself as a technology provider
working directly with high-end brands. In March, it launched the e-commerce
portal for high-end shoe designer Manolo Blahnik, pushing into a space where
competitor Yoox Net-A-Porter Group has been a leader, operating white-label
websites for brands including Yves Saint Laurent and Armani.
Among the in-store technologies Farfetch is showcasing is
a scanner that will enable customers to "log-in" with a smartphone
when they enter a store, allowing a sales assistant to view the customer’s
profile, including what items they may have bought previously or saved to a
wish list in the brand’s online store.
Wish list
A clothing rack has been designed to record what items
the customer picks up, storing the item on an app on the customers’ phone as
well as for the retailer. The customer can later swipe left or swipe right to
move items to a wish list. A smart mirror in stores will enable shoppers to
move between browsing the online and in-store selections, Gavin Williams, a
Farfetch director of product development, said in an interview.
The company is also showcasing a holographic display that
will enable customers to create and order customized shoes - experimenting
with different leathers, skins and colours - from luxury brand Nicholas
Kirkwood.
The technology, which Farfetch is calling Store of the
Future, will be rolled out later this year at luxury boutique Browns in London,
which Farfetch bought in 2015, and the flagship Thom Browne store in New York.