Armani and Yoox Net-a-Porter announce new distribution model

Yoox Net-a-Porter Group and Armani have announced a new strategic development in their 20-year relationship for what they are calling a new “distribution model for the future” by developing the ‘Next Era’ omnichannel business model.

The new strategic phase, in place until 2025, will see both companies redesign and developing a “revolutionary, digital and integrated shopping experience for customers” that will see Armani’s digital stores integrate with their physical boutiques while leveraging Yoox Net-a-Porter’s global logistics network.

The aim of the plan is to create a "seamless connection” between Armani’s clients and products, online and offline, explained the brand, using state-of-the-art technology to allow customers the best possible experience no matter how they choose to shop, whether in a boutique or online.

Giorgio Armani, president and chief executive officer of the Armani Group, said in a statement: "In the past few months, I have been redesigning the Armani Group’s business model based on a concept that is very dear to me: do less, but better. Mine is an invitation to consume more responsibly, focusing on authenticity and change.

In Yoox Net-a-Porter, I’ve found a partner that allows me to transform this principle in a new multi-channel shopping project where the relationship with the customer is increasingly personal and direct, while e-commerce and boutiques are integrated in a dynamic balance, which will have a positive effect, also on the environment.”

Yoox Net-a-Porter partners with Armani Group to integrate digital with physical boutiques

This partnership marks a new chapter that will integrate Armani’s physical and digital network to support “sustainability, transparency and circularity” for its customers, explained Armani, and comes in light of what it is states are “rapidly evolving shopping habits and demands,” which have become “even more apparent” following the recent Covid-19 pandemic.

Armani adds that the fashion system “must be redesigned” and that technology can power a “more innovative approach” to enable the luxury fashion house to have a direct and personal relationship with its customers, through building an understanding of their expectations and providing them with the “widest possibility of choice” by integrating physical boutiques and virtual stores.

This will be achieved through the established ‘Next Era’ business model that has been designed by Yoox Net-a-Porter, which aims to accelerate advancements in customer experience through fully integrating online and offline worlds by integrating inventory across a brand’s physical boutique network and website to provide a single connected system so that customers can buy products no matter where it is held, offering a more flexible shopping experience.

Customers will begin to enjoy the new features of the ‘Next Era’ model on the Armani.com website from 2021, with full integration expected from 2022, which will see orders being processed through the Yoox Net-a-Porter distribution network, as well as from distribution centres and Armani boutiques.

Federico Marchetti, chairman and chief executive officer of Yoox Net-a-Porter Group, added: “Armani has always been at the forefront of the world of fashion and luxury and one of the first to have adopted e-commerce with us. After a partnership that has lasted for two decades, we are still both driven by the desire to revolutionise the world of fashion with continuous innovations, as we have done since the first day we started working together.”

Images: courtesy of Armani/Yoox Net-a-Porter; Main image by SGP, second image by Beppe Raso; and third image by Viviane Sassen