Aug. 22 (NBD) -- The London-based online fashion retailer Farfetch on Tuesday filed for IPO, seeking to go public on the New York Stock Exchange by the end of this year.

The online retailer, whose shareholders include French luxury fashion brand Chanel and Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, plans to raise up to 100 million U.S. dollars via the IPO.

JoséNeves, founder and chief executive of Farfetch, wrote in a letter with the filing that despite all this growth, the luxury e-commerce industry is still in its infancy. Only 9 percent of luxury sales happen online, and the remaining 91 percent are still conducted the way they were done in the 1990s, JoséNeves added.

Despite rapidly increasing revenue, Farfetch hasn't turned into profit. The company posted a revenue of 268 million U.S. dollars for the first half of 2018, yet suffered a net loss of 68 million U.S. dollars, up 132 percent compared with the same period of last year.

Farfetch pointed out in its prospectus that over the next decade, growth of the global luxury goods market is expected to be significantly driven by demand from China and other emerging markets. The retailer had 186 employees in Shanghai and Hong Kong as of June 30, 2018. Moreover, to future expand presence in China, the company recently entered into an agreement for the acquisition of CuriosityChina, a Chinese technology company with particular expertise in social Customer Relationship Management and digital marketing for luxury fashion brands.

As China becomes the world's fastest growing consumption market for luxuries, luxury brands are learning how to adapt to digital consumption scenarios, so as to cater to the consumption habit and demands of Chinese customers. It's conceivable that Farfetch will make corresponding deployments after getting listed.

Farfetch have already integrated with conversational e-commerce apps and launched a full-catalogue WeChat store in China, according to the prospectus.

It's noted that last year, the London-based retailer forged a strategic partnership with JD.com which was also seeking for global expansion.

NBD noticed that JD.com has made its JD Worldwide a primary sector in its Fast Moving Consumer Goods business division and launched luxury e-commerce platform Toplife, rivaling Alibaba's Luxury Pavilion.

JD.com also bought shares in discount retailer Vipshop and luxury retailer Secco, which together with JD.com's good partnership with Farfetch completes JD.com's upstream and downstream supply chains, noted Zhuang Shuai, e-commerce analyst.

Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn