Founded in 2008 with the goal to change fashion shopping patterns, Farfetch today connects over 1,200 top boutiques and brands from around the world with customers in over 190 countries. As President, Americas for Farfetch, Jeffery Fowler is in charge of the leading luxury fashion platform’s North and South America regions with offices in New York, Los Angeles, and São Paulo. Fowler joined Farfetch with an impressive resume that includes leadership positions at LVMH, Richemont and Tesla. We spoke to the executive about the U.S. market, NYFW, and how the luxury shopping experience can address the new retail reality, and more.

How has the U.S. market been these past six months?

Our business model has proven to be truly resilient as we have continued to be able to serve our brands, retailers and consumers since the onset of the pandemic with no material disruption while also prioritizing the health and well-being of our employees, partners and customers. In the U.S. market, we saw encouraging signs of demand picking up as growth began to accelerate at the end of the Q2 2020.

Have there been highlights – if so, what? – and how do you see consumer patterns change?

As a result of the stronger relationships we have developed with brands there has been an increase in the number of opportunities for us to partner on exclusive collaborations. This offers a chance to showcase our brand partnerships, and also drives further differentiation of the Farfetch marketplace with consumers.  Recently, our consumers have had exclusive access to exciting collections from Gucci’s first circular/sustainable collection, Burberry’s summer monogram capsule, and Marni’s homeware collection.  We also established an ongoing exclusive relationship to be the sole multi-brand online channel for Rihanna’s label, Fenty, and we are continuing to explore opportunities to strategically partner with major global brands seeking to increase their direct-to-consumer distribution via the e-concession model.

With the pandemic resulting in luxury shoppers increasingly shopping online, where do you see the intersection between physical location and digital ecommerce site? What are some of the ways the luxury shopping experience can address this new climate?

Our augmented retail initiatives, which we have been developing through our exclusive technology partnership with Chanel over the past three years, are expected to be even more critical for bricks-and-mortar luxury retail as leading brands seek to optimize sales per square foot in a lower traffic, post-COVID-19 environment. We look forward to unveiling the next generation of our solutions to help brands and retailers enable an enjoyable and personalized “new normal” shopping experience. We plan to launch our revolutionary Store of the Future experience in our own Browns flagship boutique in London towards the end of this year, which will be an exciting and evolving demonstration of the capabilities we have been developing.”

How do you view the potential of the U.S. market at this moment? What are key opportunities and key challenges right now?

I believe we are undergoing what our Founder & CEO, José, has referred to as a major paradigm shift — an acceleration of the sustained adoption of online shopping that we had already been experiencing and expected to continue over the next 5 to 10 years.  With little visibility on when, and to what extent international travel and pre-COVID-19 levels of foot traffic within luxury stores will return, brands and retailers are fast-tracking their digital transformations to offset unprecedented declines in their traditional retail and wholesale businesses. This is playing out globally, and the U.S. market is no exception, especially given how badly our country has been affected by the pandemic. The Farfetch platform is uniquely positioned to capture this opportunity to enable and connect the curators, creators, and consumers of the luxury industry.

Without the ability to travel, do you see a renewed opportunity to support your global network of retailers and brands?

Travel retail demand is being repatriated in light of continuing restrictions and concerns around international travel. With this trend helping to fuel the significant shift of consumer demand to online since the onset of COVID-19, brands’ and retailers’ focus on digital channels intensified across Q1 and Q2, and we have expanded our partnerships to nearly 1,300 third-party sellers now participating on the Farfetch Marketplace, including more than 500 brands, and over 750 retailers.

In what ways did you have to change your support to speak to the time we’re in?

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we launched our #SupportBoutiques initiative to help our retail partners’ businesses by:

• Driving incremental volume to their products through prominent placement in our marketing messages, social media, homepage, and visual merchandising, essentially stimulating customer engagement with the #SupportBoutiques cause, which was very positively received
• Temporarily lifting certain service level obligations and reducing other fees that are typically charged for selling via our platform
• When partners were not able to guarantee the safety of their staff, offering to move their inventory and fulfilling their orders from one of our Fulfilment by Farfetch facilities, and waiving our customary fees for such services
• Providing assistance to them with guidelines and protective wear to ensure the safety of their employees

What do you look forward to this coming fashion season, and particularly in New York?

I am excited to see established and emerging U.S. designers showcase their collections on CFDA’s RUNWAY360 platform. I also look forward to seeing how the various creative talents and geniuses within our industry interpret the extraordinary times we are living through in their collections and presentations.

What is your view on digital presentations?

It is interesting to see how designers are leveraging digital channels in response to social distancing guidelines and restricted travel. One of the positive outcomes is how this trend has enabled emerging designers to showcase their creativity as digital presentations typically present less of a financial burden than physical fashion shows or events.

What advice do you have for designers and for retailers today?

Don’t try to do it all – focus on your core purpose and focus on doing amazing work there…then find great partners for the rest. Most of all, stay close to your customer to ensure you understand their changing needs.