FARFETCH Limited is the leading global platform for the luxury fashion industry. Our mission is to be the global platform for luxury fashion, connecting creators, curators and consumers. Founded in 2007 by José Neves for the love of fashion, and launched in 2008, FARFETCH began as an e-commerce marketplace for luxury boutiques around the world.

To support our company's growth and innovation strategy, we faced a challenge that could be described as a high-integrity commitment.

We needed to work on proof of concepts (POCs) to demonstrate that we are at the forefront of innovation and a leader in the luxury fashion marketplace. Specifically, we had to quickly tap into the world of the Metaverse / Web3 by a certain future date, as other competitors move into the space swiftly.

The Future of Retail Lab Team proposed tapping into the Metaverse/Web3 opportunities to expand our platform into a global luxury fashion destination in both digital and physical realms. However, we needed to clarify the business requirements, target audiences, and goals.

To do this, we conducted interviews with experts and stakeholders and held a workshop to align our understanding and vision for Farfetch's Web3 Metaverse Strategy. Our main focus was on creating a meaningful experience that connects the brand, boutique, and customers.

During our workshop, we identified an opportunity to tap into a gap in the market at the intersection of fashion, gaming, and cryptocurrency. We prioritised our target audiences and assumptions, defined our research methodology and recruitment criteria, and created a simple and cost-effective set of questions to learn more and validate our hypotheses for activation plans, including token design, marketing activities, and communication plans.

To further understand our gamer customers’ needs and expectations, we have conducted a follow-up interview on the back of an annual customer survey for whom has answered to either play gaming or own crypto. The interview questions focused on:

Motivation

Avatar/Character

In-Game Purchase

We have so far gathered insights around our existing audiences -  luxury fashion lovers to gamers through existing insights and recent gamer profiling interviews and surveys, however, we have non to little -insights around new/existing crypto audiences. Hence we conducted an expert interview focusing on the below aspects of crypto culture; 

Community / Discord 

Cryptocurrency 

Virtual possessions & NFTs

As part of The Farfetch Beauty Launch campaign, we have introduced our inaugural Metaverse initiative. We collaborated with a community of digital creators in The Sims 4 and Roblox to delve into their perception of beauty and its influence on virtual self-expression. Together, we explored the creation of 2D and 3D skins as a means of artistic representation. Empowering creators from Sims, Roblox to and celebrating iconic figures through the Farfetch Beauty Campaign.

To raise brand awareness and engage with a new audience.

To become a native to the gaming industry via collaboration with Digital Creators and World Builders.

To build new digital touch-points to increase excitement and brand affinity.

Both Roblox and The Sims’s community sentiment was very positive - resulting in our amplifiers tweeted more than they have contracted to work with us to engage with their peers and Missy Elliot tweeting Ebonix’s UGC post.

FARFETCH Beauty x Gaming campaign drove 213 times higher engagement than the average engagement on twitter - Roblox alone.

If you have any other Web 3 related strategy work, please feel free to contact me. I would be happy to guide you through it during a call.