Material World

It being Milan fashion week, I have Milan news on the mind. I’ve just learned that Yoox Group, the Italian company that builds and manages about half the fashion world’s etail outlets (Armani, Marni, Zegna, Dolce & Gabbana etc.) and has taken Armani and Dolce into China, is to make a move of its own into the country. Next week, thecorner.com, its high-end multi-brand boutique, will become the first multi-brand etailer to launch in China.

The floodgates are opening! Let the race begin.

“There is a huge advantage to being the first mover in China,” said Federico Marchetti, chief executive, when we were chatting about the launch. “I am sure by next year everyone will be trying to get into the market. But it was very complicated. We had a checklist of 103 items to organize just in terms of logistics.”

He believes that, though the appeal of an e-store might theoretically be its global nature (the internet being one giant mall, accessible to all), in fact, to work, online stores need to act local.

In practice, this means, as far as his company’s new site is concerned:

1. there will be greater weight placed on men’s wear than women’s wear, as a larger percentage of Chinese eshoppers are men. If in Europe the ratio is 60 per cent women’s clothes, 40 per cent men’s, in China it is reversed;
2. there will be a more balanced mix of mega brands (Marc Jacobs, Alexander McQueen, Ferragamo) and edgy brands (Haider Ackermann, Philip Lim) than offered on thecorner.it, because Chinese shoppers love big brands;
3. there will be a “butler” who accompanies every order to its destination in each one of 400 cities where the website offers next day delivery, and waits outside while the buyer tries said item on, in case he/she needs to return/exchange it, a service that does not exist in the West;
4. there will be a payment system created in China, Chinese tags in clothing, and Chinese sizing;
5. there will be a special anti-fraud chip embedded in every item sold that functions via radio frequency, to circumvent the fear of a garment being bought and a counterfeit version of the same being returned.

There will also be special fancy shopping bags with magnetic closures, and this, and some of the other features, are going to make their way from east to west to become a part of the European and US sites.

I would guess this is a harbinger of the future. In the end, new markets change fashion as much as fashion changes them.