YOOX marketplace case study: book a demo to start yours

Yoox specializes in discounted designer clothing, accessories, and home goods, operating as an online fashion retailer. If you’d like to start your own marketplace like Yoox, you’re facing a buy vs build decision. So before you decide to build it in-house on top of Spree open-source, consider using Vendo, which is the feature-rich Enterprise Edition cutting your time-to-market to a few weeks.

Build vs Buy a marketplace?

There are several positives to using open-source, like having total control and flexibility in development. But it’s important to remember that these advantages are not without their costs. Building a complete marketplace solution from scratch is a time-consuming and expensive endeavor, often taking many months or years. This insight comes from our experience with multiple marketplace ventures.

If you haven’t received substantial funding, you are likely to benefit more from an integrated marketplace solution such as Vendo, a recommendation from someone who has spent years charging for marketplace development services.

Back to the YOOX marketplace case study

YOOX, part of the YOOX NET-A-PORTER group, has made significant strides in the e-commerce sector, particularly with the launch of its pre-owned fashion destination in February 2023. This addition to its online marketplace is a significant move, allowing customers to shop with circularity in mind, giving a second life to designer fashion.

YOOX’s marketplace, launched in 2022, represents a broader transition to a flexible, hybrid operating model designed to accelerate reaching new customers and strengthening relationships with brand partners.

The marketplace significantly enhances the breadth of YOOX’s assortment and consolidates its position as a one-stop fashion and lifestyle destination. Initially launched in almost 30 markets across Europe, it is set to expand further into the US and Middle East in 2023.

Financially, YOOX recorded a revenue of $54,836,099 in October 2023 in the fashion and apparel industry. This figure, however, is lower than the median revenue of $111,951 in the industry. The marketplace’s conversion rate ranges between 1.00% and 1.50%, considered average in the industry, with an average order value (AOV) falling between $275 to $300.

Despite the lower-than-median revenue and sessions compared to industry leaders, YOOX’s strategic moves, such as the introduction of its pre-owned section and marketplace expansion, indicate a focused effort to diversify its offerings and appeal to a broader customer base, especially those oriented towards sustainability and variety in luxury fashion.

Launched in January 2022, YOOX’s marketplace offers an extensive product assortment, including over 700 brands and 150,000 items across various categories. The diversity of the assortment, frequent store updates, and partnerships with renowned retailers in the fashion and streetwear industry enrich the shopping experience, making YOOX stand out in the competitive online luxury market.

How to emulate YOOX marketplace success?

For a success like Yoox’s, it’s recommended to initiate your marketplace quickly, in just a few weeks instead of months. Evaluate the suitability of your products for your audience and refine your customer acquisition strategies based on real-world insights.

Test the market before going all in on building it.

Here’s what you’d be getting with a Vendo free trial:

Book a marketplace demo call: We’ll set up your demo marketplace and populate it with products, so you could give it a try and start selling in 14 days
Customize your Storefront: Use the drag & drop page builder or custom CSS
Onboard Brands: Invite your brands or choose brands from our catalog
Select Products: Curate products and collections manually or automate it
Embed products: Make your content, newsletters, social media shoppable
Get Paid: Get paid as soon as products are shipped by the brands
End-to-end automation: brands sync, fulfillment, payouts, invoicing, taxes

When you’ve tried all that and it works, start thinking about building your own, custom-made marketplace project based on Spree Commerce. First, by decoupling the storefront and going headless with Vendo marketplace API, and later with your own backend, if you decide you really need it. Just lift and shift the storefront.

Nobody has to know what’s under the hood, right?