Main fashion marketplaces in Europe(2)

At first glance, it may seem logical to believe that most marketplaces are of North American or Asian origin.

This is because Amazon, AliBaba or eBay polarize and lead the market of the so-called horizontal marketplaces (those that have a large inventory of multiple categories not necessarily related to each other).

But when we dig a little deeper, we realize that this is not necessarily the case and that, especially in some niches and vertical, Europeans have a lot to say.

For some reason, it seems that French entrepreneurs have always had a natural tendency towards fashion. This is the case of 3 very young just graduates who, in 2006, decided to open a footwear marketplace.

They chose the curious name Spartoo, inspired by the Roman gladiator sandals. But they added an additional "o" to modernize the concept and link it to the type of naming that was associated with the Internet at the time (Google, Yahoo, Kelkoo...).

The growth since that time in the early 2000s has been exponential at all levels. They have grown from 10 employees originally to more than 180 and have huge premises in Grenoble.

But this growth can be seen not only in the size of the company, but also in its catalog. Although it remains highly verticalized, it has been opening up to other categories such as fashion, cosmetics and home. Thus, Spartoo, has reached today when it markets more than 3,500 brands and has 300,000 different references and up to one million products in stock.

Of course, they sell internationally, reaching more than 25 countries both in Europe and beyond the borders of the European Union.

To highlight some specific aspects, we can say that they have a very interesting loyalty program that, from the point of view of the seller, they have an integrated logistics system called Toobone that replicates the famous Amazon FBA (leaving all the management and shipping on their side)

This is a totally different concept that, at the time, revolutionized the European marketplace scene. While we had  Spartoo in France, in the same year 2006, a company emerged in Spain that started to make a lot of noise.

The idea of Lucas Carné and José Manuel Villanueva as founders was to create an online outlet for fashion products. This started in a more or less modest way, but it was very well received because of its business model and the way it exploited the eCommerce purchase drivers so intelligently.

Unlike most eCommerce platforms, Privalia is not a site open to everyone. If you want access to their offers you need to sign up to join that private shopping club.

This exclusivity and the promise of quality brands with very important discounts -sometimes up to 70%- makes its subscribers feel like elitist bargain hunters.

Ten years later, the French giant Vente Privée, showed more than just interest in Privalia, to the point of buying the company for a record amount in Spain: 500 million euros.

Currently, they have opened their catalog to other categories beyond fashion. We could say that it has become progressively more horizontal by adding products not related to fashion, such as electronics or travel.

They have not done bad because, thanks to the 7,000 brands they work with, they have contributed to their parent company's turnover exceeding 3.5 billion euros.

It is probably one of the European fashion marketplaces less known by the general audience among those we have discussed in this series of posts. Its name is not exactly easy to remember, but it is no less interesting as a proposal.

Farfetch was born from the vision of a true guru of the most exclusive fashion: the Portuguese José Neves. His idea went beyond creating a marketplace for luxury clothing and accessories; what he was looking for was a platform that would bring together all that passion and lifestyle.

Today, Farfetch serves as an umbrella for more than 700 international boutiques in 50 different countries and 3,000 designers who sell through them. All luxury in a unified shopping experience.

Within the ecosystem designed by this eCommerce, there are a number of parallel business lines ranging from B2B to Browns and Stadium Goods that sell directly to the end customer luxury fashion and sports footwear.

It is a different but really smart bet to have brands like Balenciaga, Gucci, Prada, Versace... online within a single website.

In addition, they give a lot of importance to the inspirational part with recommendations of trendy looks and we can even find second-hand products (although they call them "pre-owned" which is much more chic).