Farfetch bets on blockchain technology to improve the shopping experience

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Jun 19, 2019

Farfetch has become a founding member of a new blockchain initiative that will “help to enable frictionless e-commerce” and revolutionise the luxury industry.

The fashion marketplace has joined the likes of Mastercard, PayPal, Visa, eBay, Facebook, Uber, Vodafone Group and Spotify to contribute to the development of Libra Blockchain, which will launch in the first half of 2020.

Led by the Libra Association, Libra Blockchain will be “secure, scalable, and reliable”. It will support a wide range of business uses as well as a digital currency, Farfetch said.

The e-commerce business has been researching the potential applications of blockchain technology for the luxury industry as part of a broader blockchain strategy.

“We have been looking at blockchain technology to help solve a range of fashion industry issues. We were delighted to be approached by the Association for this initiative, which we believe will enable frictionless e-commerce for hundreds of millions of people around the world,” said Stephanie Phair, chief strategy officer at Farfetch.

Jose Neves, CEO and co-chair of Farfetch added: “We believe blockchain will benefit the luxury industry by improving IP protection, transparency in the product lifecycle and - as in the case of Libra - enable global frictionless e-commerce.

“As a founding member of the Libra Association, we will actively participate in the technical development of the blockchain, whilst at the same time being able to learn from our participation and accelerate our other blockchain projects.”