Giorgio Belloli: Farfetch And The Hard Luxury

When a privately owned  company reaches a valuation of more than $1 billion, it is referred to as a 'unicorn'. With an impending flotation on the stock market that has it pegged at £4 billion, Farfetch has some serious horn; one that it is using it to expand its reach into the ne jewelry market with a dedicated luxury watch and jewelry hub that launched in May. This online aggregate for fashion boutiques across the globe - it now gives shoppers access to designer goods at 900 stores, carrying no stock but taking up to 30% of every sale made through the site – was founded in 2008, and has 2 million customers from 190 countries on its books, whose average age is 36. With online sales of luxury goods up 24% last year, this makes Farfetch’s mailing list prime hunting ground for jewelers desperate to connect with a younger generation. Numbers and figures better explained by Farfetch Chief Commercial and Sustainability Officer Giorgio Belloli. 

Farfetch is primarily a fashion site, so why focus on ne jewelry? 
It’s important to us to o er an unrivalled range to lovers of fashion around the world – this move into ne jewelry is a natural ex- tension of our current o ering. Over the last couple of years, we’ve worked to take our customer experience on the Farfetch platform to the next level, with visual and editorial updates to make it both inspiring and authentic for our customers. 

What does the launch of a dedicat- ed hub add? 
Our jewelry and watch hubs give us the opportunity to inspire our cus tomers with content that encourages discovery. We want our customers to be able to explore these categories and play with the idea that ne watches and ne jewelry can be used to express themselves and are an extension of their style and personality, whether they are seasoned buyers or invest- ing in their rst hard luxury purchase. 

Are shoppers more comfortable buying luxury jewelry online now? 
We work hard to ensure that our customers are con dent in making high-value purchases with us. On the one hand, we’ve ensured we have the right logistics and security in place to handle higher-priced transactions and deliveries into 100 countries. On the other hand, we also know that con dence doesn’t come from a simple returns policy or service agreement. We also build trust every time we help our customers discover new designers, every time we can answer questions about where and how a product is made and every time our private client team is able to source something rare, customised or bespoke. 

The visuals created for the hub seem fresh and playful. Is it aimed at a younger shopper, or just a less seri- ous crowd? 
Our customer base is skewed towards the Millennials and our editorial creative for ne watches and ne jewelry is also fresh, unintimidating and non tradi- tional to encourage our new and existing