Versace makes a big entrance into e-commerce

By

Dominique Muret

Published
Sep 23, 2012

It is now turn for the Italian label Versace to dive into online business. But the brand has decided to do things its own way, directly managing their online store and offering an authentic experience "in the glamorous world of Versace," as its website promises. The fashion house's former e-commerce site only offered the Versace Home line, but the expanded version will now include Versace's entire range of products. .

Accessible under its official URL www.versace.com, this "flagship store online," as the brand describes it, offers a selection of all its lines – ready-to-wear, women's and men's wear, bags, shoes, jewelry, perfumes, sunglasses and other accessories as well as items from the Young Versace collection and furnishings from Versace Home. 

Unlike many of its competitors, Versace did not outsource the project to an online store manager but chose to control the site itself, relying on the German e-commerce company Netrada for technical and logistical support. 


The Italian financial press reports that the group invested 2 million euros in this virtual shop. Versace hopes online sales will reach 1% of its total sales by the end of 2013. The group was back in the black in 2011 with a net profit of 8.5 million euros and a turnover of 340.2 million euros in 2011, up 16.4% compared to 2010. Forecasts for this year show even better results, with record sales and double-digit growth in most markets.

Currently available in Italy, the United Kingdom, France and Germany, the Versace online store will also be accessible in Belgium, the United States, the Netherlands, Spain and Austria in October. Next up, it will go online in Australia, China, Russia, the Middle East and especially in Turkey, South Korea and Brazil, three countries where the brand intends to return soon with its own stores. "We have ambitious roll out plans, as we intend to make our products accessible to most of the world in the next 12 to 18 months,” said the Versace chief executive, Gian Giacomo Ferraris. 

This e-commerce site has been highly customized down to the last detail in order to recreate the spirit of the fashion house in both the site's presentation and in its structure, the group said in a press release. The site draws upon decorative details, such as a mosaic used as screen wallpaper, borrowed from the new Versace shop concept developed by English designer architect Jamie Fobert, also the architect for Givenchy stores. The new concept will be launched in October in SoHo, New York. Beyond the product pages, the site also offers special sections such as "My Versace," where customers are invited to create their own collections according to their tastes and moods with the help of a "mood mixer." Or there is "Donatella's Hot Picks," a very personal selection of 100% Versace pieces chosen by the house's designer Donatella Versace.