Richemont’s executive chairman has reached out to the heads of LVMH and Kering with an offer to join forces to create a global online portal for their luxury brands.
LVMH houses watch brands TAG Heuer, Hublot, Zenith and Bvlgari, Richemont boasts Cartier, Panerai, Vacheron Constantin, Baume et Mercier, Jaeger-LeCoultre, A Lange and Sohne, IWC, Piaget, Montblanc, Van Cleef & Arpels and Roger Dubuis while Kering has Girard-Perregaux, JeanRichard, Gucci and Ulysse Nardin.
The path to an agreement for a joint online portal was made a little easier in March when Richemont sold its online store Net-a-Porter to Italy’s Yoox. Combined revenues for the online stores total 1.3 billion euros.
Richemont still owns 50% of Yoox/Net a Porter, but only 25% of voting shares so that it is not a controlling interest, and it can be seen as independent.
Richemont has said that it wants Yoox/Net a Porter to become the “dominant neutral platform for the luxury-goods industry.”
Richemont executive chairman Johann Rupert (pictured) told a luxury conference hosted by the Financial Times this week that he has spoken to LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault with a suggestion to back a single global platform capable of becoming the Amazon of the luxury world.
“I was speaking to Arnault, I was speaking to Kering. We need a platform that is big enough for the luxury goods industry,” Mr Rupert, told delegates at the FT conference in Monaco.
“I want to create a platform that is open to everyone, it is up to them now. I think it is a too big a game for any company to dominate.”
