French label Chanel has taken a minority stake in the London-based online retailer Farfetch, the company announced on Monday, as part of a tie to develop digital services on their website like chats to connect the label’s clients with store assistants.
Luxury companies worldwide have all been trying to expand and extend their digital services to bring in younger clients. Chanel is the only company that hadn’t made a big push to shopping online by deciding not to pursue more web sales.
The deal between Farfetch and Chanel does not include Chanel selling its clothes on Farfetch’s website but rather working together to create digital services linked to customer service.
“This is about how to enrich our relationship with our customers,” Pavlovsky told Reuters, adding that Chanel was not trying to monitor the clients but rather offering to give more tailor-made assistance to those who wanted it.
“The challenge for our luxury industry is that our clients are used to ultra-personalized experiences,” Farfetch’s Portuguese founder and Chief Executive Jose Neves said. “When you walk into a store, people don’t know you.”
