Luisa via Roma reports record sales of 130 million euros

Florentine boutique and e-commerce platform Luisa via Roma, or luisaviaroma.com, has quietly made a turnover of 130 million euros, according to Italian news outlet Ansa.

Driven almost entirely by its online sales (95 percent) the Italian fashion group counts shoppers in Russia, South East Asia and Latin America amongst its core online customer base. Its home country Italy for the first time took 50 percent of the company’s European sales in the first half of 2018.

"I am interested in developing each geographic area in a specific way with partners who are able to put in place strategy, contacts and capital. In certain markets it is necessary to have a partner who knows the specific dynamics of local marketing and communication," Andrea Panconesi, sole director of Luisaviaroma was quoted in Pambianco.

"Specifically, I refer to the Middle and Far East, Russia, India, Latin America and South East Asia. They are all expanding markets, for which specific knowledge is needed. It is a remarkable change of strategy for us, so far we have always refused any entry by any investor. I continuously receive proposals from investment funds or groups that want to acquire company shares, but I am not interested now nor will I be in the future.”

How does LVR compare to other online luxury players

In short, Luisaviaroma is catching up to other luxury pureplayers, like MyTeresa and Matchesfashion. German luxury platform MyTeresa in 2017 saw income soar 34 percent to 245 million euros. Matchesfashion reported an income of 204 million pounds in 2017, the same year the company was valued at nearly 1 billion pounds when it was sold to Apax Partners. The company also operates a trio of stores in London, but does 90 percent of its business online. Luisa via Roma operates one physical store in Florence, Italy.

Photo credit: Luisaviaroma homepage