YNAP Drives New Montblanc E-store
MILAN — Further strengthening its ties with parent company Compagnie Financière Richemont SA, the Yoox Net-a-porter Group will operate Montblanc’s e-commerce platform starting from this month.
Montblanc will benefit from YNAP’s flexible platform, which allows brands to personalize their sites and merchandise their selections, connecting the new online store with the brand’s physical boutiques, serving more than 100 countries in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Asia.
With active customers today totaling more than 4.3 million, YNAP comprises the multibrand in-season online stores Net-a-porter and Mr Porter; the multibrand off-season Yoox and The Outnet, as well as the online flagships for designer brands ranging from Giorgio Armani, Balmain, Maison Margiela and Missoni to Valentino. As reported, Armani is the second fashion house to endorse the Next Era model, which was designed by YNAP and first launched in a partnership with Valentino in 2017, allowing customers to manage their purchases in a flexible way and benefit from the full potential of all channels.
Montblanc’s new e-store improves accessibility for visually impaired customers and has been completely redesigned with a mobile-first approach. As reported, more than 50 percent of YNAP sales come from mobile each year. In addition, customers can enjoy extensive omnichannel services including click-and-collect and return-in-store which are being extended to new countries. YNAP will provide additional services such as engraving and embossing products into its operations network.
Nicolas Baretzki, chief executive officer of Montblanc, touted the “unparalleled shopping experience” the partnership with YNAP will provide. “Since the beginning of this journey we were aiming to share Montblanc’s rich history and design ethos with each customer leaving a memorable impression behind,” Baretzki said.
Francesca Tranquilli, president of online flagship stores at YNAP, said the group shares Montblanc’s “vision to convey the maison’s rich history in master craftsmanship, further enhance the Montblanc customer offer and bring new dimensions to their already strong digital platform.”
As reported, Johann Rupert, chairman and founder of Richemont, home of brands including Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, views online as a way of better serving customer needs, and has said the online platforms helped to mitigate the loss in sales from tourism and enforced store closures during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’ve always been interested in how technology can help us. We look at online as a way of serving customer needs. We believe in new retail, meaning that the client can get what he or she wants when he or she wants it — all the time. It will migrate more and more to online,” Rupert said in May, discussing Richemont’s 2019-20 results.
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