Federico Marchetti is the founder of the internet retailer and e-commerce services company Yoox and was the chairman and chief executive of the Yoox Net-a-Porter Group. In one of the biggest fashion e-commerce deals of 2015, Marchetti and Johan Rupert, chairman of Richemont, announced a merger between Yoox and Net-a-Porter at the end of March 2015. Marchetti said at the time: "This is a game-changing merger between two pioneering companies that have already radically transformed the marketplace since 2000 and will now shift the industry paradigm once again. Together, we plan to expand on our many combined successes and industry breadth to strengthen partnerships with the world's leading luxury brands and harness a significant untapped growth potential.”
"The merger of the two leaders will further enhance an independent, neutral platform for a sophisticated clientele looking for luxury brands,” Rupert told press. The Yoox Net-a-Porter Group, includes Yoox, which sells end of season clothing and accessories, as well as homeware and collectibles; Net-a-Porter, a full-priced womenswear fashion e-commerce site; Mr. Porter, a full-priced mens fashion e-commerce site; and The Outnet, which sells discounted past-season clothing and accessories.
He was born in Ravenna, Italy, and earned a degree in economics from Bocconi University in Milan, then an MBA from Columbia Business School in New York. Marchetti has served as a member of the jury for various fashion competitions, like the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund prize in New York and the Andam Fashion Award in France. Marchetti lives in Milan.
Marchetti began his career at Lehman Brothers as an investment banker and then consulting firm Bain & Co, Marchetti found a way to bridge the gap between luxury brands and the internet through e-commerce. “In my case, it’s bringing together fashion and online, two worlds that were so distant from one another 10 years ago and are now closer than ever,” he told the T magazine in 2012. Initially, he established a relationship with brands like Diesel and Emporio Armani with Yoox.com, a multi-brand online retailer that sold past season merchandise at a discount.
Eventually, in 2006, brands began using his platform to launch their own e-commerce websites. In 2009, Marchetti successfully took his company public on the Milan Stock Exchange, the only IPO that year, and has also signed an agreement with Kering (formerly PPR) to build e-commerce websites for all of their luxury apparel brands, like Stella McCartney and Balenciaga.
Marchetti was succeeded by Geoffroy Lefebvre as CEO in November 2020 following YNAP’s acquisition for €5.3 billion by Richemont in 2018; during the transition period Marchetti continued to serve as chairman until July 2021.
In 2020 Marchetti became the first non-family member to join the Giorgio Armani S.p.A board of directors.
