Page 18 - February #178

DeFacto
Podgorica, Montenegro
A Global Vision

The DeFacto journey began 18 years ago with the launch of a single store and a goal of being a
global brand that is there for all their customers whenever they need them. To learn more about
this fast-growing business, we spend some time with Serdar Ersoy, Board Member to discuss how
the company has evolved and grown.

ack in 2005, DeFacto started on its path to becoming a global leaving the cabin. Within 30 seconds, products in the desired size and
fashion brand that also produces technology. Today they colour are delivered to guests.
Boperate more than 500 stores on five continents and thanks “They can get information about the products with virtual glasses in
to their strong infrastructure and technology, they can bring products to the store, they can shop without visiting the cash desk with autonomous
fashion lovers in 93 countries through its more than 15,000 employees. payment facilities through kiosks and they can either buy the products
“At DeFacto, our development team of more than 300 people work immediately from the store or we deliver them to their addresses. With
under the roof of DeFacto Technology, which we established ten years these powerful features, our Berlin store supports our brand both offline
ago,” explains Serdar Ersoy, Board Member at DeFacto. “This provides and online and is an important milestone in our global brand journey that
us with a playground where we can realise our dreams by producing began in Türkiye,” Ersoy explains.
the infrastructures of our omni-channel technologies. We are proud In recent years the company has expanded into the UK and the US but
that 80 per cent of the software developed at DeFacto Technology was predominantly they have focused on the European market and entered
developed by our team.” 12 European countries in just four months in co-operation with Zalando,
For the last two years their new playground has been Europe and at the multinational e-commerce site of Europe. In this four-month period,
the end of 2021 they launched a new generation store in Berlin which they managed to increase their net revenues by 400 per cent through
brings together the physical and digital worlds and combines fashion and this partnership with Zalando.
technology under one roof. Away from Europe, last year DeFacto unveiled their first stores in
More than just a classic physical store, the site in Germany is a new Turkmenistan, Cameroon and Congo, whilst in 2023 they will open sites
generation fashion, technology and living centre that represents the in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Algeria, Angola, Rwanda and Mauritius as
future of retail. It is also a physical portrayal of a brand which has been they plan to open 50 stores in total throughout the calendar year.
strengthening in Europe through its e-commerce platform and online Since day one of operations, globalisation has been the goal for
stores. The Berlin unit is equipped with RFID technology which utilises DeFacto and they continue to meet the expectations of their customers
virtual reality, augmented reality and robotic technologies. in all business processes, from collections to marketing activities by
Thus, customers can see the product on themselves without wearing meeting local needs with global standards and because of this they are
it in the smart mirror and they can decide what to buy without even rapidly expanding around the world.
visiting the store. Guests can get support from robot consultants on all “With our ‘accessible fashion’ approach, we make style, high quality
their questions and how to benefit from the smart store. Thanks to the and comfortable clothing no longer a luxury in every country we operate
smart cabins, customers can request the product they want without in and we create special collections in each category according to the