LUXURY RETAILER ENGAGES WHATSAPP
Yoox unveils technology to suit the well-to-do customers
ONLINE luxury retailer Yoox Net-a-Porter said it was developing technology that will allow well-to-do customers to buy products directly through WhatsApp as the e-commerce market for Prada and Versace goods becomes more competitive.
Yoox Net-a-Porter’s personal shoppers already communicate with top clients via the text-messaging service, and the Milan-based company plans to expand its use of the mobile app, chief executive Federico Marchetti said in London.
By becoming one of the first companies to use WhatsApp to sell directly to customers, Yoox Net-a-Porter is seeking a leg up on competitors like Farfetch and luxury brands’ own sites.
Less than two years after leaving the company, Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massanet announced last week that she is joining Farfetch’s board, renewing her rivalry with Marchetti, who created Yoox and orchestrated the 2015 merger that created YNAP.
So far the fashion industry has been slow to capitalise on the opportunity of messaging. In China, the WeChat app has more than 700 million users – many of whom have their bank accounts linked to the service. While 92 percent of global luxury brands use WeChat for marketing, only a small proportion of them sell directly through the app.
YNAP, which sells $12 000 (R156 036) Oscar de la Renta gowns and $7 000 Dolce & Gabbana handbags via sites such as Net-a-Porter and the Outnet, is trying to get in closer contact with big spenders. About 40 percent of its higher-margin in-season revenue comes from just 2 percent of its clients, which it has dubbed EIPs, or “Extremely Important People.”
“We’ve made some of our biggest sales to EIPs by chatting to them through WhatsApp,” Marchetti said. He declined to give details on how payment via WhatsApp would work.
Yoox Net-a-Porter is jumping on the WhatsApp opportunity because Net-a-Porter’s mobile customers place more than double the orders of desktop users, and those purchases on average are about twice as valuable. The company is still testing its technology and has no scheduled release date. – Bloomberg