Global fashion search platform Lyst has announced a new round of financing led by LVMH. The group’s chief digital officer Ian Rogers is also joining the Lyst board. Lyst is raising some $60 million, of which LVMH is said to be contributing just under half.
“E-commerce now represents multi-billion Euro revenue and explosive growth for LVMH Maisons,” said Rogers in a statement. “As we continue to invest across the full spectrum of the online luxury experience, Lyst’s vision for a seamless fashion search and discovery destination, coupled with its exceptional growth potential, provides us with a unique opportunity.”
The platform brings together 12,000 brands and retailers including Fendi, Gucci, Net-a-Porter.com, Farfetch.com and SSENSE from more than 120 countries. In 2017 it provided enhanced search services to more than 70 million fashion shoppers. Such numbers give Lyst unparalleled access to the fashion buying zeitgeist and the company also produces The Lyst Index, a quarterly ranking of fashion’s hottest brands.
Following Saturday’s royal wedding, FN asked the Lystbots the way the wind was blowing, and here are the most-searched brands and those that have seen the biggest spikes.
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VALENTINO
After Serena Williams wore Valentino sneakers underneath her gown to the wedding reception, searches to the Italian label’s designer kicks increased by 81 percent the following day. This was the biggest search spike by far in the entire footwear category on Lyst.
AQUAZZURA
There was a 71 percent increase in traffic to the brand in the 24 hours after the wedding. No surprise, as Meghan Markle chose to wear a specially commissioned blue-soled pair to her reception. The brand was also well represented at the ceremony itself with Markle’s mother Dora Ragland, Oprah Winfrey and all six of the bridesmaids wearing Edgardo Osorio’s designs.
JIMMY CHOO
Following both the Duchess of Cambridge and Pippa Middleton choosing to wear shoes by Jimmy Choo, there was a 67 percent traffic increase to the label in the 48 hours after the wedding.
STELLA MCCARTNEY
Amal Clooney’s yellow Stella McCartney dress was the most searched-for outfit from the royal wedding, with 17,000 people, from 65 countries, looking for a yellow Stella McCartney dress in the following 48 hours. Traffic to Stella McCartney dresses overall increased 3,000 percent compared to the previous day – additionally boosted, no doubt, by Markle’s evening reception ensemble which was also by Stella. Searches for yellow dresses are also up 1,500 percent week-on-week.
ERDEM
Carey Mulligan’s embroidered Erdem dress sparked a traffic increase of 1,000 percent to Erdem dresses in the following 24 hours.
VALENTINO
Williams’ Valentino reception dress caused a 400 percent traffic increase to Valentino dresses, compared to the previous day.
THE VAMPIRES WIFE
Traffic to The Vampires Wife increased by 240 percent the following day after three guests – Sara Parker-Bowles, Charlotte Riley and Olivia Hunt – wore dresses by the designer.
ALESSANDRA RICH
Designer Alessandra Rich saw a 118 percent search spike in the 24 hours following the wedding. Markle’s former “Suits” co-star, Abigail Spencer, wore a polka dot dress by the brand.
Lyst has seen revenues grow more than 400 percent in the past three years since its last funding call and is now profitable, the platform has revealed. This new round of investment will support Lyst’s continued international expansion with the data science team continuing to pioneer the machine learning, computer vision, AI and neural network techniques that power the platform’s search and personalization algorithms.
“This is a time of transformational change in the fashion industry,” said Lyst co-founder and CEO, Chris Morton. “The shift to digital has enabled Lyst to redefine how customers search and discover fashion online. Today we’re already among the top sources of new customers for our partners around the world. Our success to date is based on marrying cutting edge technology with deep fashion expertise. We are thrilled that this will be further strengthened by our partnership with LVMH.”
