Farfetch taps Aurora Mobile AI retail technology

Fashion e-commerce platform, Farfetch, has announced a ‘smart retail’ partnership with Aurora Mobile. 

This will see Aurora Mobile leverage its artificial intelligence driven technology, machine learning-based push notification services and intelligent operational analytics, to help Farfetch personalise shopping experiences and provide more efficient and targeted services to its customers. 

Founded in China during 2011, Aurora Mobile has recently inked agreements with a number of platforms in the finance, insurance, weather, internet tools, gaming, fresh food e-commerce, online education, telecom and new energy vehicle sectors.

These include Ping An Bank, Data Center of China Life, Moji Weather, WiFi Master, Lilith Games, Missfresh, 17zuoye, Beijing Unicom, and Dongfeng Motor.

China JV

Late last year, Alibaba Group confirmed media reports about a tie up with Farfetch. 

Both it and Swiss group Richemont will invest $600 million ($300 million each) in the company and $250 million each for a 25% stake in a newly formed Farfetch China joint venture. 

Farfetch will launch shopping channels on Alibaba’s Tmall Luxury Pavilion and Luxury Soho platforms as well as its cross-border marketplace Tmall Global.

The venture, which counts Alibaba competitors JD.com and Tencent Holdings among its investors, will be able to expand its reach to Alibaba's 757 million consumers.

José Neves, Farfetch Founder, Chairman and CEO, commented: “This announcement is a major step in our mission to connect the curators, creators and consumers of the luxury fashion industry.”

“The new initiatives with Alibaba Group and Richemont extend our strategy to power the digital transformation occurring across the luxury industry, which has been accelerated by the unprecedented challenges resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.”

“The Luxury New Retail initiative will explore ways we can help the wider industry move forward and thrive in the post-Covid world,” he concluded.

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