London based online platform for fashion Farfetch have inked a deal with JD.com which will give them access to the Chinese market.
JD.com will invest $397m in Farfetch and in return the company will plug into JD.com’s China-based logistics, technology and social media marketing resources.
JD.com are pushing high end goods aiming to capture the luxury end of the Chinese market and Farfetch (valued at over US $1 billion before the JD.com investment) boast over 700 brands and boutiques.
Selling on Farfetch
Whilst Farfetch don’t appear to the consumer as a marketplace, they partner with their brands and boutiques who can either use Farfetch’s technology, build their own integration or let Farfetch come in and build the integration for them. Farfetch then take a commission on sales.
“We integrate with their systems and deal with all the heartache — logistics, currency exchanges, everything that ecommerce entails, we connect to their inventory in real time.”
– José Neves, Farfetch founder
If you’re a fashion boutique you can apply to join the Farfetch Community and market your goods through their site by emailing [email protected].
Selling to China with Farfetch and JD.com
The JD.com investment and resources about to be thrown at the company make it a perfect opportunity to dip your toe into selling in China without having to worry about the mechanics of selling and shipping to China yourself. The great thing with Farfetch is, that if you’re a fashion boutique, they’ll take on the headache of integration with their fashion platform and JD.com will put in the resources to handle the Chinese side of the business.
It’s worth emphasising once more that Farfetch are not a retailer however much they appear to be – they’re an online fashion marketplace pulling in offers from retailers (which they call boutiques) operating on a commission basis. They don’t compete with you.
