Kelly Kowal's guest appearances

Kelly Kowal

The Glossy Podcast

The Modern Retail Podcast

Omni Talk Retail

Karla Gallardo

Ariane Goldman

Janice Sullivan

Rebecca Taylor

Hali Borenstein

Anthony Marino

Matt Alexander

Mickey Drexler

Nadia Boujarwah

Sarah LaFleur

Aaron Sanandres

Kerry Cooper

Anna Harman

Jeremy Cai

Ben Bilboul

OwlTail

Sandrine Deveaux

Marketplaces were among the big retail winners of the past year, and Farfetch was no exception.“We performed really well, as an overall company,” said Kelly Kowal, chief platform officer at Farfetch, on the latest episode of the Glossy Podcast. In its first-quarter earnings, released on May 13, Farfetch reported a 46% year-over-year revenue increase, to $485 million. “Nobody ever wants to capitalize off of a pandemic, but one thing that we were really excited about, and something that we really championed on the marketplace side, was keeping our boutique [partners]online and able to trade. And then on the platform side, we saw an increase in new clients and in new technology being adopted. We were really fortunate to be able to have both sides of our business firing on all cylinders.”And that’s despite the fact that new competitors, including The Yes and Amazon’s Luxury Stores, entered the market. What’s more, some luxury brands remained hellbent on keeping to their own sales channels.“What we find sometimes is that customer demands are way ahead of what retailers can do,” Kowal said. “But we spend a lot of our time thinking about what we call ‘the now, the next and the future.’ Keeping our eye on that has allowed us to scale at pace. Innovation is at the heart of our platform.”Focused on what’s next is Sandrine Deveaux, Farfetch’s evp of Future Retail, and her team. “We know only one out of 10 [new technologies] will work, and sometimes one out of 100,” she said. “But because we are a tech company and we can take those risks, and we have this investment in the backend to support our vision, we are the best place within the industry to [explore] them.” 

<a href="https://www.glossy.co/fashion/how-the-pandemic-is-accelerating-e-commerces-shift-to-the-marketplace-model/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Marketplaces</a> were among the big retail winners of the past year, and Farfetch was no exception.“We performed really well, as an overall company,” said Kelly Kowal, chief platform officer at Farfetch, on the latest episode of the Glossy Podcast. In its <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210513005816/en/Farfetch-Announces-First-Quarter-2021-Results" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">first-quarter earnings</a>, released on May 13, Farfetch reported a 46% year-over-year revenue increase, to $485 million. “Nobody ever wants to capitalize off of a pandemic, but one thing that we were really excited about, and something that we really championed on the marketplace side, was keeping our <a href="https://www.glossy.co/fashion/amid-store-closures-farfetch-is-trying-to-keep-its-boutique-partners-afloat/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">boutique [partners]</a>online and able to trade. And then on the platform side, we saw an increase in new clients and in new technology being adopted. We were really fortunate to be able to have both sides of our business firing on all cylinders.”And that’s despite the fact that new competitors, including <a href="https://www.glossy.co/fashion/is-real-time-personalization-the-future-of-fashion-retail/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Yes</a> and Amazon’s <a href="https://www.glossy.co/fashion/a-long-way-to-go-how-luxury-stores-overcorrected-amazons-lack-of-exclusivity/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Luxury Stores</a>, entered the market. What’s more, some luxury brands remained hellbent on keeping to their own sales channels.“What we find sometimes is that customer demands are way ahead of what retailers can do,” Kowal said. “But we spend a lot of our time thinking about what we call ‘the now, the next and the future.’ Keeping our eye on that has allowed us to scale at pace. Innovation is at the heart of our platform.”Focused on what’s next is Sandrine Deveaux, Farfetch’s evp of Future Retail, and her team. “We know only one out of 10 [new technologies] will work, and sometimes one out of 100,” she said. “But because we are a tech company and we can take those risks, and we have this investment in the backend to support our vision, we are the best place within the industry to [explore] them.”

'More than just order history': Farfetch's Kelly Kowal and Sandrine Deveaux on the new standards of personalization

"Take The Leap" is the theme of this podcast, and no one has done that better than Kelly Kowal, Chief Platform Officer at Farfetch. Kelly didn't casually enter into a retail career, she dove into one. With courage and a "can-do" attitude, she began a journey in e-commerce running digital marketing at eBags.com. At the time, e-commerce was new to Kelly, so when she didn't know the acronyms people were using in the weekly status meetings, she showed up to the office at 5 AM before anyone else arrived, did her research, and figured it out. This persistence and determination took her to London and to her current role as Chief Platform Officer of Farfetch. In this podcast, Kelly shares her career story and how she and her team professionally and personally weathered the pandemic, all while refining and expanding the offerings Farfetch plans to bring to market in the coming year.You won't want to miss this interview, and be sure to stay until the end when Anne and Kelly plan their next retail conference concert escapades.Thanks to our sponsor, Parcel Pending. For more information about Parcel pending, visit ParcelPending.com

"Take The Leap" is the theme of this podcast, and no one has done that better than Kelly Kowal, Chief Platform Officer at Farfetch. Kelly didn't casually enter into a retail career, she dove into one. With courage and a "can-do" attitude, she began a journey in e-commerce running digital marketing at <a href="http://eBags.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">eBags.com</a>. At the time, e-commerce was new to Kelly, so when she didn't know the acronyms people were using in the weekly status meetings, she showed up to the office at 5 AM before anyone else arrived, did her research, and figured it out. This persistence and determination took her to London and to her current role as Chief Platform Officer of Farfetch. In this podcast, Kelly shares her career story and how she and her team professionally and personally weathered the pandemic, all while refining and expanding the offerings Farfetch plans to bring to market in the coming year. You won't want to miss this interview, and be sure to stay until the end when Anne and Kelly plan their next retail conference concert escapades. Thanks to our sponsor, Parcel Pending. For more information about Parcel pending, visit <a href="http://ParcelPending.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ParcelPending.com</a>

Women's Retail Collective |  Farfetch Chief Platform Officer Kelly Kowal

Luxury retailers have historically been slow to go online. But in the age of coronavirus, digital remains one of the only viable channels.Kelly Kowal, chief platform officer at Farfetch, is one of the people heralding this transition. Farfetch offers both its own consumer-facing marketplace of luxury items as well as sells white labeled services to brands and retailers that want to create their own online experiences. Both sides of the business have been booming over the last few months, she said on the Modern Retail podcast. "We are seeing a lot of interest from brands and retailers now really understanding how important that e-commerce channel really is," she said.But the industry is certainly not static. Different regions are seeing varied demands. According to Kowal, that is tied to countries' health and safety. "China, as it's recovering, is doing really well," she said. "The Middle East is doing really well." The only consistent things she's observed is inconsistency. The markets that were once reliable, said Kowal, no longer are. The demand you see one day may be gone the next.Meanwhile, competition is only increasing. Amazon is beginning to launch its own luxury offerings, giving brands more choices for which platforms they should work with. "We're always watching the competition," said Kowal, adding that Farfetch has a head start. "The difference for us is that we already have 1,300 partners," she said. "We already have the best brands and the best retailers." Amazon may be big and powerful, but it's yet to forge the important partnerships.In Kowal's eyes, the key is collaboration. Brands and retailers in the luxury space aren't looking for quick marketplaces to drop inventory. "We really genuinely want to be partners," she said. "That's how we see these relationships."

Luxury retailers have historically been slow to go online. But in the age of coronavirus, digital remains one of the only viable channels.Kelly Kowal, chief platform officer at Farfetch, is one of the people heralding this transition. Farfetch offers both its own consumer-facing marketplace of luxury items as well as sells white labeled services to brands and retailers that want to create their own online experiences. Both sides of the business have been booming over the last few months, she said on the Modern Retail podcast. "We are seeing a lot of interest from brands and retailers now really understanding how important that e-commerce channel really is," she said.But the industry is certainly not static. Different regions are seeing varied demands. According to Kowal, that is tied to countries' health and safety. "China, as it's recovering, is doing really well," she said. "The Middle East is doing really well." The only consistent things she's observed is inconsistency. The markets that were once reliable, said Kowal, no longer are. The demand you see one day may be gone the next.Meanwhile, competition is only increasing. Amazon is beginning to launch its own luxury offerings, giving brands more choices for which platforms they should work with. "We're always watching the competition," said Kowal, adding that Farfetch has a head start. "The difference for us is that we already have 1,300 partners," she said. "We already have the best brands and the best retailers." Amazon may be big and powerful, but it's yet to forge the important partnerships.In Kowal's eyes, the key is collaboration. Brands and retailers in the luxury space aren't looking for quick marketplaces to drop inventory. "We really genuinely want to be partners," she said. "That's how we see these relationships."

'We're always watching the competition': Farfetch's Kelly Kowal on Amazon's growing luxury presence