Farfetch's 'Store of the Future'

As top of the line shoppers become increasingly mobile and connected, luxury retailers are testing new technologies that promise a more seamless experience between the physical and online universes.

At a "Store of the Future" event at London's Design Museum, the luxury e-commerce stage Farfetch showed off connected attire racks, touch-screen-enhanced mirrors and sign-in stations that could help put information collected from customers online to use in stores, and in addition harvesting material gathered amid store visits to ease later orders on the web.

"How would you capture the greater part of that phenomenal data you gather in stores where customers touch and feel items?" asked Gavin Williams, head of item development at Farfetch.

Farfetch showed a scanner for customers to "sign in" with their smartphones when they enter a store, enabling sales colleagues to view customers' profiles, including what items they may have previously purchased or saved to a list of things to get online.

The connected dress rack records items customers get, putting away them in a smartphone application where they can later swipe left or swipe appropriate to edit selections. The savvy reflect enables shoppers to request items in another size, browse online alternatives and even pay without leaving the dressing room.

The company additionally showed off a holographic show that enables customers to create and order custom shoes - experimenting with different leathers, skins and hues - from the brand Nicholas Kirkwood.

Created in 2008 as an e-commerce entry for luxury boutiques, Farfetch has increasingly positioned itself as a technology provider. In March, it launched the e-commerce entry for top of the line shoe designer Manolo Blahnik, pushing into a space where competitor Yoox Net-A-Porter Group SpA has been a leader.

The company has additionally announced that it was working with Kering-owned Gucci to provide hour and a half express deliveries of the brand in 10 cities.

Farfetch will reveal the suite of technologies in the not so distant future at the boutique Browns in London, which the company purchased in 2015, and at the lead store for designer Thom Browne in New York.

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