A few weeks ago my boyfriend / the-hero-behind-my-outfit-pics who also runs his own
eCommerce blog, thought that it would be pretty cool to interview this stylish guy here. So let me introduce you to the one and only
Federico Marchetti, the founder and CEO of
YOOX! I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to ask him some fashion and YOOX related questions whereas Pan (the bf) did the eBusinness related questions. So here we go!
The great thing about yoox.com is that it is strong in a number of aspects, offering a better overall shopping experience. For one, the assortment is both deep, varied and often hard-to-find elsewhere including an edited range of end-of-season clothing and accessories from the world’s most prestigious designers, exclusive capsule collections such as the one we did with Greek up-and-coming designer Angelos Bratis, eco-friendly fashion, a unique assortment of home design objects, rare vintage finds and art books. There’s something for everyone! Secondly, we consider ourselves a “global player in a local market” – meaning that while our presence is very widespread (we deliver to over 100 countries), we pay close attention to our local markets with customized websites (now yoox.com is in 10 different languages) and especially customer service – we offer secure payments from local payment services, reliable delivery with eco-friendly packaging, fast and efficient customer care via telephone and email and no-hassle returns.
We have found that yoox.com customers in Greece are fashion-oriented, mainly young women age 26 to 35. They shop from all across the country from big cities like Athens and Thessalonica, but also from Crete. More specifically, we are seeing that our Greek shoppers love shoes and aside from the classic black and white, they buy a lot of brighter colors including red and green.
The M Missoni for OrphanAid Africa was a very good initiative. Could you give us more details regarding your social responsibility plan?
The M Missoni for OrphanAid Africa was one of my favorite projects of the year – it is part of our permanent initiative called YOOX4LOVE, which consists of anything we do for charity, combining the values of ethics and aesthetics into one.
We have donated proceeds from these projects to nonprofit organizations such as Greenpeace, Amnesty International, AMREF, Green Cross International and OrphanAid Africa.
In the past Yoox collaborated with famous designers such as Hussein Chalayan. What should we expect in the future regarding such partnerships?
These partnerships are very important as they define us both as a brand and as a platform for interesting and unique projects that blend the worlds of fashion, music art and design. While I can’t reveal anything just yet, 2012 will definitely be filled with collaborations like the one with Hussein Chalayan, each different in its own way and each representative of what yoox.com stands for.
We are experiencing many technological advancements in fashion eCommerce, such as Augmented Reality, virtual fitting rooms, QR codes. What should we expect from YOOX in the coming years in this area?
Nowadays, it isn’t only about being at the forefront of fashion - yoox.com wouldn’t exist without technology and this is why we invest in it year after year. We have an entire tech team – the lifeblood of YOOX - dedicated to improving the website through new releases, smoother mobile integration and dedicated apps. This is true not only for yoox.com, but for our other website thecorner.com and all 30 of our mono-brand Online Store partners as well – including Giorgio Armani, Dolce & Gabbana and Valentino, who have all trusted us to power their e-commerce sites thanks to our existing platforms and nearly 12 years of experience in fashion e-commerce.
Click
here to read my Interview with You Nguyen, Benetton's Creative Director
Click
here to read my Interview with Catarina Midby H&M's Trend Coordinator and Spokesperson
