Second-quarter sales for the “Other” division, which includes Chloé, Alaïa and Delvaux, were roughly in line with the same period last year. Online luxury fashion retailer Yoox Net-A-Porter (YNAP) – whose performance is listed under “results from discontinued operations” because Richemont agreed last year to sell a 47.5 percent stake in the loss-making business to Farfetch – recorded a decline in sales of 10 percent at constant exchange rates.
The European Commission decided in October that Farfetch could proceed with its acquisition of a stake in YNAP. However, Farfetch’s share price has plummeted since the deal was first announced. Asked about the deal, Rupert said: “We can’t comment on a listed company, especially because they will report their business.” [Q3] Results. What I can tell you, however, is what interests us, namely the technical solutions. Colleagues tell me that not only are they meeting expectations, but things are going very, very well.” (As part of the deal, YNAP acquired Farfetch Platform Solutions, the luxury marketplace’s white-label technology offering.)
He also said: “[Richemont’s] The total engagement at Farfetch is less than a year’s worth of communications spend… If we spend €2 billion a year on communications [the group has spent roughly €2 billion a year in communication and leases over the last 14 years]We get our customers to get to know us. But we don’t get to know them. And ultimately, in today’s world, if you really want to serve your customers, you have to know what they really want and what they are thinking, what their feelings are and meeting needs that they may not really have at the moment, but that you believe, that this could be the case when the products are available.”
Thomas Chauvet, head of luxury and consumer goods research at Citi, wrote: “In a soft landing scenario, we see Richemont as a fundamentally stronger company than during previous industry downturns.” [thanks to its] Greater scale, more balanced product/geography mix, shorter production lead times, greater share of owned retail distribution, cleaner wholesale inventory, more cash and possible succession changes.”
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Source : www.voguebusiness.com