Dive Brief:
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Farfetch on Tuesday announced the launch of a flagship store on Chinese marketplace JD.com, according to a press release from Farfetch China.
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In February, Farfetch China acquired JD's Toplife luxury platform. That transaction was for a reported $50 million in cash, according to Jing Daily.
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The two marketplaces forged a strategic partnership in 2017 that entailed a $397 million investment from JD.com, making it one of Farfetch's largest shareholders and bringing JD founder and CEO Richard Liu onto the Farfetch board, according to a previous press release.
Dive Insight:
JD operates in the shadow of the top e-commerce player in China, Alibaba, but has seen profits soar despite some signs of economic slowdown in that country.
The e-retailer has forged other strategic partnerships to help achieve that. Last month, JD said it is expanding its tie-up with Walmart and other outside retailers there and renewing its partnership with Chinese tech giant Tencent. During the first quarter, JD also expanded its fulfillment capacity: As of March 31, the company operated more than 550 warehouses, "covering an aggregate gross floor area of over 12 million square meters in China," the company said.
Over the past two years, thanks to its own partnership with JD, Farfetch has already leveraged those logistics capabilities, along with JD.com's insights into shopping behaviors of China's luxury consumers, according to the release. The luxury segment in recent years has benefited greatly from sales there, and, with Chinese tourists spending less abroad of late, those operations have become even more important.
Farfetch now has a "Level 1" entry point on the JD.com app, meaning that JD.com's more than 300 million customers have access to more than 3,000 brands through Farfetch's network, according to the release.
"Brands crave ever-better access to the Chinese market, and we are thrilled to deliver this for them," Judy Liu, Farfetch's China managing director, said in a statement.
