22 February 2013 IL SOLE 24 ORE - Moda 24 (Italy)

22 February 2013 IL SOLE 24 ORE - Moda 24 (Italy)

22 February 2013 IL SOLE 24 ORE - Moda 24 (Italy) Translation:

How to discover the identikit of the online customer

Analysis of YOOX Group database reveals profile of online customers: a mine of information from around the

world.

Women, all women, regardless of age and nationality, buy shoes and especially boots: mainly with a 3” heel, but

American online shoppers tend to go for 5”. Men buy ties: especially the Italians and Japanese, while Americans

love the bow tie and Germans prefer scarves, and the French like a good hat. Men tend to be more brand-loyal

and buy 20% more gifts online than women do. In Italy, women are becoming increasingly independent and use

their own credit card rather than their husband’s: they buy more children’s items than other countries, and tend to

buy more gifts.

These “nuggets” on user behavior have been given to Moda24 by the database of YOOX Group, which for 13

years has sold online in over a hundred countries, in eleven languages, with technical-logistic centers in Europe,

the United States (its largest market accounting for one sale in 5), Japan, China and Hong Kong. Every month the

group, listed on the Italian Stock Exchange since 2009, has 12.3 million unique visitors and the Milan

headquarters constantly scans current orders according to country, brand purchased and price. One comes in

every 14 seconds.

“On Valentine's Day 2013,” explains Federico Marchetti, born in 1969, YOOX Group founder and managing

director, “yoox.com reached an aggregate income of a billion euro since its launch: in 2012 our performance was

excellent, with a consolidated turnover of 376 million. In the last quarter, we exceeded one hundred million, a

milestone in our history. And Italy has grown by 12%, which is unexpected and surprising in the current economic

climate.”

If e-commerce still accounts for only 5% of global retail, all companies are being forced to deal with this rapidly

growing phenomenon: last year, according to eMarketer, global online sales were above a thousand billion

dollars, while sales of luxury items, according to Morgan Stanley, passed the 7 billion mark. “In this business,”

adds Marchetti, “success is based on the central importance of the customer, on profiling, and on respect for

customer comments and suggestions. When we set out our strategies and train our employees, that is the focus:

putting ourselves in the customer’s shoes and, like a chameleon, changing based on what is wanted in each

market. We pay a lot of attention to what customers and call centers tell us: four or five years ago, we had really

colorful packaging for yoox.com and many Italian customers began to ask for more anonymous packs; so we

starting thinking about recyclable packaging and the natural-colored Ecobox was created.”

When it comes to the 2012 preliminary results, the lion’s share is still made by the three multi-brand stores:

yoox.com, thecorner.com and shoescribe.com account overall for 262 million (+23.1%) of net income, which is

basically double the 113.9 million (+45.3%) made by the single-brand stores. From Armani.com to Zegna.com –

going in alphabetical order – there are 29 online single-brand stores powered by YOOX Group, and a joint venture

with PPR was recently launched for management of the online stores of the French giant’s various brands.

“Compared to traditional retail,” adds Marchetti, “we are much more customer-focused: it’s true that in an actual

shop the experience with sales staff is more human, but that is not always positive; for us, collecting the

information dictated by the customer is mathematical. Our group has billions of data on our customers: the

difficulty lies in filtering all of that data. We use the power of the information we hold half for the potential and the

other half to be discovered, but there won’t be any exceptions or revolutions in our strategies. The multi-brand

channel has always been about lifestyle, in fact recently we launched the sale of art; the single-brand side is more

recent but it is already growing fast.”

The market is also highlighting an interesting trend: the increasing propensity towards shopping from a

smartphone or tablet: “In our case,” points out the CEO, “this accounted for a quarter of the total traffic at

Christmas and we estimate it could double within 24-36 months. This trend is particularly strong in Italy, where the

sheer number of mobile devices allows consumers to look for and buy items while they are out of the house. The

data didn’t surprise us, because we had been working with mobile devices since 2006 and our yoox.com app was

ready as soon as the iPad was launched. On top of all that, the average spend is higher than on desktop

computers: people don’t generally go for cheaper products just because they are using a mobile device.”

If there will be no “exceptions or revolutions” in the strategies, the focus is squarely on development of individual

markets, primarily China, “in a couple of months,” concludes Marchetti, “we are starting to work on a new

development in the single-brand channel that makes us very proud: it’s a company in the fashion-luxury sector

that, after an international competition, chose our in-house creative agency for the graphic restyling of its website.

That’s another rewarding side to our innovation.”