Q&A with Matches Fashion CEO: Luxury’s transition from bricks to clicks

Matches Fashion started with a single shop in Wimbledon more than 30 years ago and has grown into one of the biggest global destinations in online luxury for men and women, carrying a modern edit of 650+ established and new-generation designers, from Prada, Gucci and Balenciaga to Saint Laurent, Halpern and Wales Bonner delivering to over 176 countries.

Tell us about Matches Fashion?

Matches Fashion is a global, luxury fashion e-commerce platform, founded in 1995 as a boutique business. It took a digital direction in 2007 and since then it has been mainly a digital business. 95% of our business is digital and its very global, because we do one-fourth of our business in the US, one-fourth in England and one-fourth in Asia. It is one of the most global platforms and deals in mainly luxury fashion and some accessories. It is one of the models of the future.

Why do you believe that it is the model of the future?

Well, actually I should say it is the model of the present and the future because in the last couple of years, there has been a dramatic shift towards e-commerce. On one hand there is an increased customer demand and on the other hand we are getting better and better in serving the customer, and so it’s a match that is working very well. The luxury market used to constitute less than 10% of the online retail market around 5 years ago, going up to 30% of the market by 2025 and estimated to constitute half of the market by the end of the decade or next decade.

In an era of retailtainment, is it difficult for online stores to offer great customer experiences as compared to physical stores? How are you ensuring the right experiences for your customers?

I have been in retail for over 12 years, creating these experiences. Dubai is perhaps one of the first places to create mega experiences like ski slopes in the mall. These are ways to create traffic mainly, so people can buy products. However, buying products is so much easier online than in the physical world. So the experience to me is that you can choose among 1000 goods. Yes, it can be done in a more personalised way where their taste and preferences is understood. That is what the shoppers are looking for, especially when they buy luxury wear. And it’s different from going to dinner and going to an entertainment store. So I think there is more and more a divide between experience in the sense of retailtainment and when it comes to buying stuff.

Are you also looking at expanding your footprint in the Middle East?

Well, we sell in the Middle East and it is a very good region for us. We have some of our best customers here. We serve them from London, with a website in English as we do not have an Arabic language website yet. We are looking to localise more over time.

How would you say that the Middle Eastern customers are different from the customers in London or other Western markets?

They have bigger spending power and because of that they have more interest in high end items and exclusive products. They are very demanding on things that are limited, exclusive, and personalised. They look for something that is more elegant, colorful and evening wear compared to what the western world wants. So the offer in terms of brands that resonate really well here is very different to what is liked in the western markets.

Today, we see a lot of e-commerce portals realising the importance of having a physical presence, either as pop-ups or flagship stores. Will you also be opening more physical stores?

We had them for 15 years, so we have always been there. But I guess our claim to fame is our flagship location in Carlos Place, in Mayfair. And it’s not a store, it’s a hub. We have VIP events, we have personal shoppers and we have brand exhibitions. It’s a great way to connect with our best customers in London and across the world. We were actually in Doha just a few months ago.

Luxury products have been seen as an expression for a long time, but are now being seen as an investment as well. Have you noticed this change in mindset among your customers as well?

Clearly, there is an increased sensitivity on what makes luxury. The customer has never been so alert on the quality, origins, the material and fabrics, and even the story behind each individual item. All of this creates a unique knowledge for the customer on the piece they buy and adds the emotional attachment that goes beyond the price. That, for them, justifies the definition of the luxury item.

Where do you think Matches Fashion will focus its investments on going forward? Where do you see the maximum value today?

Well the maximum value is really in offering the customers an amazing selection of designers and products. Our collection is a mix of established and emerging designers. This is unique as compared to some other websites. And we have always been a pioneer in featuring emerging designers. A lot of them come from London, as our presence in the city makes it easier for us to have a great relationship with the local designers. We were one of the first to work with the likes of Alexander McQueen and other British designers. We continue to push the envelope on the selection – one that is unique and provocative for the customers. The second area is definitely the experience or the personalisation. We end up having 30,000 icons on our website and that can be overwhelming to the customers. So how do we propose (recommend) what is needed by personalising the content and products for you?

So at this point what would you say is a key challenge for e-commerce businesses that you are trying to tackle?

I call these opportunities more than challenges, but we are a business model that has been developing in the past decade. And if you think that traditiona; retail has 100 years of learning so we are still quite young and we have a huge opportunity to continually develop. I think the whole supply chain module is very important to give the customers what they want and when they want it on a global basis. I believe that it’s not about having a thousand distribution centers all over the world but instead having an efficient supply chain that can transport goods all over the world. But at the same time, its also about helping customers makes choices in an easy way. We do not want to burden them. I think that there is the tendency to put 2000-3000 brands (onto platforms) since e-commerce has no limit. I think that would confuse the customers. So we need to be insightful, know our customers well using data and serve them and provide them information that is more relevant. This is the big opportunity.

Do you have any plans of launching NFTs?

We are looking at that. We are not at the forefront since we are a retailer, and not a brand. So we would be doing NFTs with brands that we work with. We are discussing to do that eventually. In the future, it could become a very interesting business to develop. But I don’t see it becoming very significant in the next 2-3 years. ■