Aeffe to Unveil Global Omnichannel Project
The new e-stores of Moschino, Alberta Ferretti and Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini, previously powered by YNAP, will bow in September.
MILAN — Aeffe Group has partnered with Triboo, a company listed on Alternative Investment Market Italia, to launch a new and global omnichannel distribution project, taking its online and off-line sales channels in-house. The online platforms are expected to bow in September.
The Italian fashion group will create a dedicated team to focus on the online stores of its proprietary brands Moschino, designed by Jeremy Scott, Alberta Ferretti and Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini. The three brands’ online stores were previously powered by the Yoox Net-a-porter Group.
Aeffe, which is listed on the Star segment of the Italian market, also controls Pollini, and produces and distributes collections for Cédric Charlier and Jeremy Scott.
Like many competitors, Aeffe is tuning in to the needs of Millennials and focusing on developing its omnichannel platform as well as high-potential markets, in particular China, Southeast Asia and the U.S., where Aeffe already records most of its current online sales. Exports represent around 70 percent of total group revenues, which last year reached 312.6 million euros, up 11.4 percent compared with the previous year. The digital stores will be conceived as experiential and interactive places, aiming to offer increasingly tailored services to customers. Pollini’s e-commerce web site will continue to be managed independently.
Triboo is active in the e-commerce, advertising and online communication sectors and will be in charge of design, user experience and contents of the renewed platforms, as well as digital marketing, while Aeffe will head global logistics, in order to benefit from the synergies deriving from the integration between off-line and online stores, with services such as “click and collect” and in-store returns maximizing the warehouse’s performance. The move is meant to help strengthen the brands’ international presence and help Aeffe to better understand customers’ habits and needs.
Aeffe will rely on Triboo Shanghai Ltd., the company’s subsidiary in China, to develop its business on different fashion marketplaces and social media. The local hub will also manage cross-border activities to reach and cover the wide Far East market. A localized operations strategy will be implemented in the U.S. to support customer service and logistics.
“Aeffe is heavily investing in the implementation of strategies conceived to strengthen the international positioning of its brands with a focus on creativity, dynamism and a distinctive customer experience,” said Marcello Tassinari, general director of Aeffe. “With the launch of this digital project, taking full advantage of the technological innovations,
Aeffe aims to optimize the integration of physical and online sales channels and create an increasingly fluid dialogue with our brands’ final consumers through an effective personalized service.”
As reported, Aeffe is reaping the rewards of strategies the Italian fashion group set in motion years ago, seeing net profits in 2017 more than triple to 11.5 million euros, compared with 3.6 million euros in 2016.
In the 12 months ended Dec. 31, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 45 percent to 36.6 million euros, compared with 25.2 million euros in the previous year, driven by the growth of sales and a lower incidence of operating costs.
Operating profit more than doubled, climbing to 22.7 million euros, compared with 10.1 million euros in 2016.
Sales of directly operated stores last year represented 26.7 percent of revenues, increasing 18.4 percent compared with 2016. The wholesale channel grew
8.9 percent, accounting for 70.1 percent of the total.