MILAN — Yoox is taking a major step into a new hybrid model by introducing its first marketplace today.
While historically a mainly wholesale e-tailer, the new course at Yoox will “enhance the customer experience, allowing instant access to a wider product assortment including over 700 brands and 150,000 new items across jewelry, ready-to-wear, accessories and footwear,” Valentina Visconti Prasca, managing director at Yoox, told WWD in an exclusive interview. “The launch of the marketplace underscores our commitment to our customers. We are continuously evolving our offer and creating a unique shopping experience across fashion, design and art.”
Visconti Prasca underscored that the new marketplace will offer “a seamless and intuitive experience” for customers, as the Yoox mission is to help them “navigate new market trends and to meet the enhanced expectations for digital and e-commerce in the luxury space.”
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The marketplace is being launched first in Europe through almost 30 countries in the continent with plans for further expansion across the U.S., the Middle East and North Africa and Japan, likely next year, the executive said.
This new operating model will also help further strengthen relationships with its brand partners, “ensuring greater flexibility in their logistical operations and product assortment, and allowing them to reach customers on the platform in a faster way,” Visconti Prasca said.
The increased assortment will comprise some of the best-known retailers in the industry, including Mengotti and Papini.
The marketplace integration will support small businesses and emerging brands, including Apple&Figs, CHPO and Siguelsol, among others, providing them with the opportunity to reach and connect with the e-tailer’s global customer base.
As reported, consumers are increasingly gravitating toward online marketplace formats for greater convenience, value and variety, according to a survey of 9,000 consumers around the world and, increasingly, brands and retailers are transforming their e-commerce websites into marketplace formats.
The survey, “The 2022 State of Online Marketplace Adoption,” was released last week by Mirakl, an SaaS platform for engineering online marketplaces, but conducted independently by the Schlesinger Group research firm.
With the support of the marketplace, the long-term goal at Yoox is to surpass 1 million products available on the online store.
Visconti Prasca said the marketplace will allow the product range to further expand into new categories, including pre-owned items and beauty.
The increased localization of the products through the marketplace format will allow Yoox to stay true to its sustainability goals, supporting the group’s Infinity strategy also through a selection of sustainable brands that will be available on the site’s marketplace. These will follow the “Good on You” brand rating system, which informs consumers about responsible fashion brands and the items they choose.
The executive said that “a key element Yoox offers and inspires our customers in 100 countries is our curation and our extensive offer. We want to be able to provide a shopping experience that is up to their expectations.”
Yoox is part of the Yoox Net-a-porter Group, controlled by Compagnie Financière Richemont. As reported in November, Richemont is in “advanced” discussions to merge its YNAP platform with Farfetch, building on a high-profile partnership forged a year ago, creating a neutral, industry-wide platform, built on the latest omnichannel retail technologies, to support the digitization of the luxury industry. Farfetch is a pure marketplace and does not own any inventory.
This story was reported by WWD and originally appeared on WWD.com.
