DUBAI: Luxury e-retailer Farfetch launched in the Middle East last year to fanfare from fashionistas from across the region.
We sat down with Edward Sabbagh, managing director at Farfetch Middle East, to understand more about the platform’s offerings in the region.
According to Sabbagh, localizing content to the region at hand — in addition to offering a shopping experience in both English and Arabic —is of particular importance.
“We do a range of things to appeal to a local customer. For example, we tailor our marketing to customers of the region. We use a mix of global and local content, produced locally, to ensure we portray the global angle of fashion and address the individuality aspect of our shoppers,” he told Arab News, emphasizing the platform’s use of regional influencers and models in marketing campaigns.
“Since its inception almost 11 years ago, Farfetch has stood as a platform connecting the world’s creators and curators to fashion lovers across the globe. We decided earlier this year to extend this aspect of our DNA to our content and storytelling with the launch of Farfetch Communities,” he said.
“The Communities content experience on Farfetch allows the Middle Eastern customer to shop selects and edits chosen by the global Farfetch community, sharing inspiration from around the world. It also allows us to put a spotlight on our own regional community to share their inspiration with the global Farfetch network,” Sabbagh added.
Farfetch prides itself on its Arabic language setting, something Sabbagh says is extensively used in Saudi Arabia.
“Throughout the whole region, English visits are still higher although Arabic visits are growing faster, namely due to the fact that we launched Arabic in April 2018. This said, the split is very different from one market to another. For example, Saudi Arabia has much higher Arabic visits contribution when compared to the UAE and this can be attributed to the expat populations of each market.”
Considering Sabbagh called Saudi Arabia Farfetch’s “fastest growing market,” it should come as no surprise that the platform ensures “Saudi consumer(s) shopping on Farfetch can have access to pieces from around the world that they would otherwise not find in an offline store and exclusive product only available on Farfetch.com. Further to this, we also have a team of Private Client Stylists who work closely with their Saudi clientele to ensure they are able to find exactly what it is they are looking for.”
