Farfetch buys Brown's boutique (and is going "omni-channel")

[ES3K]

The company plans to develop and test new innovations in retail technology and omni-channel at Browns, before rolling them out across the online platform’s full network of over 300 boutiques. The move is part of Farfetch’s omni-channel growth strategy, which, according to José Neves, who founded the company in 2007, is driven by one question: “How will people shop for luxury fashion in five or ten years?”

Full news:

http://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/news-analysis/browns-acquired-by-farfetch-as-part-of-omni-channel-growth-strategy

I find this kind of interesting, is this the beginning of a brick & mortar renaissance? Also, Netaporter's former head buyer Holli Rogers is becoming CEO at Brown's.

[Faust]

Interesting indeed. B&M was never going away. What I fear is that these behemoths will eventually kill independent boutiques (though so far FarFetch has been a helper, in a way). I think the push is for B&M stores to serve as showrooms that will let people shop online.

[zamb]

Ancient imperialism and colonization being applied to retail......

very soon there will be only a few empires with many city states under their guardianship

[YTheLastMan]

Ancient imperialism and colonization being applied to retail......

very soon there will be only a few empires with many city states under their guardianship

Bleak...