Most online purchases come from mobile, says Yoox Net-A-Porter chief

Chief executive of mega Italian retailer Yoox Net-A-Porter has revealed most online purchases come from mobile phones.

Speaking at the 2016 Arabian Business Digital Forum in the Armani Hotel Dubai, Federico Marchetti said customers are buying more and more through their mobile phone.

“We are lucky and I think we were good in starting to develop mobile in 2006. When we had our 5 year plan, because we run the company by 5 year plans, the first slide had the word ‘mobile.’ And we started working on mobile in 2006 by selecting the best talent in our technology team. We thought the mobile is the future. Mobile is now a key priority for us,” he said.

Also speaking at the digital forum is managing director of Facebook MENA and Pakistan Jonathan Labin, who added the low cost of mobile adds to its importance in e-commerce.

“When you think about who gets behind in the digital world, it is unconnected people but also business who don’t move fast enough. They get behind. It can affect anyone. Facebook was one of them. And people forget. They forget that we had a very difficult 2012 and we were criticised for not moving fast enough on mobile. One of the things Mark [Zuckerberg] said was, ‘I won’t take meetings anymore where people present desktop to me. Mobile is where people are consuming,’” Labin said.

Emaar Chairman Mohamed Alabbar revealed at the forum he is launching the Arab world’s first social messaging app in February 2017. It will operate in Arabic and will offer services similar to smartphone application WhatsApp.