After Neiman Marcus, now Kering cuts Farfetch links

Gucci and Saint Laurent owner Kering has reportedly cut direct links with Farfetch although its brands could continue to be available on the site when sold through the third-party retailers that are Farfetch’s backbone.

The news came after Neiman Marcus Group said earlier this week that it’s not moving forward with plans to transition its Bergdorf Goodman webstore and app onto Farfetch Platform Solutions. And it’s not joining Farfetch’s marketplace either, despite a multimillion dollar link-up between the two announced back in 2022.

Kering hasn’t made a formal announcement but the news came in comments from its finance chief Jean-Marc Duplaix in the wake of its results report.

He also said that e-commerce overall had fallen as a percentage of the group’s total sales. That’s no surprise as e-tail is likely to appeal to many of the more aspirational luxury consumers who may have been cutting back in the wake of the global cost-of-living crisis. Kering’s direct brand exposure to Farfetch is believed to be limited.

But while it may not impact the French luxury group in a big way, it’s another blow for Farfetch after the Neiman Marcus news and after it was recently sold to South Korea’s Coupang having come dangerously close to collapse. Its problems last year also saw Richemont cancelling its major tie-up with the business that would have seen Farfetch taking over Richemont’s Yoox Net-A-Porter operation.

The company’s spectacular fall from grace came after ambitious expansion that saw it moving beyond its core business of selling luxury goods on behalf of a host of small retailers on its marketplace. Comments from Coupang’s CEO suggest that its aim is to return its focus to that original operating model.