Armani has announced a partnership with Yoox Net-A-Porter to provide shoppers with a unique and anticipated omnichannel shopping experience.
The first steps of this new tie-up between the classic Italian luxury fashion house and the five-year-old merged company – comprised of two 20-year-old fashion retailers and fantastic online presence and legacy – will be available on the armani.com website from 2021, with full integration expected from 2022.
And for us, every time we see worlds that are colliding in that way, it’s especially intriguing, and this collaboration answers that bill.
In addition to offering a more flexible shopping experience with access to online and offline products, customers will have full visibility of the season’s entire collections, whether they are stocked in boutiques or online. Not only will this allow them to access a vast assortment of products but they can easily shop all available categories via web or mobile. Providing a premium experience, from the store to online, and everything in between – including the products themselves, of course, is a bold aspiration, and one that if executed to its potential, can become a model to go by.
Of course, investing in omnichannel – while it doesn’t exactly guarantee more spending – is essential in making sure that shoppers receive the best experience overall, wherever they meet the brand.
This is a big move for a luxury retailer such as Armani, as in some way it’s putting the customer in the center of its marketing.
“In the past few months, I have been redesigning the Armani Group’s business model based on a concept that is very dear to me: do less, but better,” says Giorgio Armani, President, and CEO at Armani Group.
“Mine is an invitation to consume more responsibly, focusing on authenticity and change. In Yoox Net-A-Porter, I’ve found a partner that allows me to transform this principle in a new multi-channel shopping project where the relationship with the customer is increasingly personal and direct, while e-commerce and boutiques are integrated with a dynamic balance, which will have a positive effect, also on the environment.”
Sounds like he is reading from Optimove’s messaging brochures.
The move builds on a partnership that has been running for 20 years between the companies and plans to leverage Yook Net-A-Porter’s global logistics network. It is the next milestone for the business model established by Yoox Net-A-Porter, called Next Era.
Next Era’s goal as a project is not only to offer customers access to all available products across all channels but to allow customers to enjoy new features that have been redesigned with innovative technology and a new model for fashion consumerism.
Armani stressed in a statement released on July 22nd that especially following the COVID-19 crisis, the modern model for fashion “must be redesigned, with technology powering a more innovative approach.”
The statement also noted that technology could be used to enable a direct and personal relationship with customers, build an understanding of their expectations, and provide more choice for shoppers.
Armani was one of the first brands to join other luxury fashion brands, including Valentino, in the eCommerce revolution with YNAP’s support.
“Armani has always been at the forefront of the world of fashion and luxury and one of the first to have adopted e-commerce with us,” adds Federico Marchetti, Chairman, and CEO at Yoox Net-A-Porter Group.
“After a partnership that has lasted for two decades, we are still both driven by the desire to revolutionize the world of fashion with continuous innovations, as we have done since the first day we started working together.”
Combining that kind of vision, of luxury brand with digital specialists, has us on the edges of our seats.