Associate Editor Lauren McLemore headed out West for a visit to Potentate Mining’s operation hosted by gemstone wholesaler Parlé Gems.
Kering Wants to Control Its E-Commerce
The online shopping sites for all of its brands will be handled in-house by the first half of 2020.

Paris—Kering will bring e-commerce for all brands in house by 2020, the luxury conglomerate announced Monday.
For the past seven years, e-commerce for the majority of the dozen luxury brands owned by the Paris-based company has been handled through a joint venture with Yoox Net-a-Porter (YNAP) Group.
But rival Richemont, whose holdings include Van Cleef & Arpels and Cartier, acquired YNAP in May of this year, and so Kering is now looking to transition off the platform, noting that “the success of luxury houses depends upon their ability to offer bold creative propositions, an exceptional customer experience that is consistent across all distribution channels and a unique customer relationship on all devices.”
It said it expects the migration to be complete by the first half of 2020, though it noted it would continue to develop partnerships with third-party e-commerce platforms when relevant.
RELATED CONTENT: Kering Revenue Jumps 28%, Watches and Jewelry ‘Solid’Heading the transition is Grégory Boutté, whom Kering brought on board as chief client and digital officer at the end of 2017. His job is to upgrade the company’s digital capabilities, taking the lead on e-commerce, CRM, data science and innovation.
Kering said e-commerce is its fastest-growing sales channel; it accounted for 6 percent of the luxury conglomerate’s total sales in the first half of 2018.
“Digital can be many different things at once: a distribution channel, a platform for offering seamless omnichannel services to clients, a driver of brand image and visibility, and a tool for engaging with customers in a personalized way,” Boutté said. “Digital technology, data science and innovation provide a way of offering our customers the best possible experience, on every touchpoint.”
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