Luxury needs to get local, says YNAP's Federico Marchetti

Yoox Net-A-Porter Group (YNAP) CEO Federico Marchetti told delegates at the Condé Nast International Luxury Conference in Lisbon that the luxury industry needs to localise its approach to customers and that AI will be the key to making the relationship with the customer even more personal.

Marchetti said localisation must go far beyond just translating a site into local language and added that a tailored experience based on each customer’s location, profile and preferences is now a mandatory requirement.

“Customers don’t just want to shop in their own language, they want to be inspired in their own language… The link between our editorial content and shopping is crucial: content to commerce is in our DNA,” he said.

He added that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be key to making the experience more personal and when you can prove that you really know a customer there is "no limit" to what they will buy online.

“Artificial Intelligence will make the relationship with the customer even more personal. Each customer will have their own shop created around them. So my home page will feature designers that I love like Tom Ford and Dries Van Noten,” he explained.

YNAP also operates flagship e-commerce stores for a raft of brands in luxury fashion but recently launched an online store for luxury car brand Ferrari which sells branded apparel, watches, eyewear and collectibles.

YNAP has also been moving more deeply into the "hard luxury" space and recently launched the Fine Jewellery and Watch Suite, featuring jewellery and watches from brands such as Cartier and Tiffany with some items selling for €100,000 or more.

“There is no limit to what customers will buy online. They’ll buy experiences, and why not a Ferrari car? Anything is possible, if you know them like we do,” Marchetti said.