Web 2.0 A Chat With Net-a-Porter

One of the key speaker in yesterday's session of the Luxury Briefing Conference was Natalie Massenet, the founder of Net-a-Porter. It would be easy to hate Natalie, being so pretty and successful and roughly the same age as me and all, but I love Natalie because she managed to succeed against all the odds and she did it while maintaining her charm and good nature. When she was starting out many of the big groups had also dipped their toes in the e-luxury space. And failed. But she still managed to convince investors and the brands that her site was different. How? Well, as she said today, she was working "with a really quirky group of people." When it comes to fashion never underestimate the power of personality. One of her quirky team was Carmen Busquets, who now runs Couture Lab. Carmen opened a retail store almost as a diversion while she was working with her father in Argentina. She would go to the collections and mail -- snail mail -- photos from the collections to her key clients. And they would buy. In dollars. (This was in the 70s, I believe). Anyway, years later, when her boyfriend showed her the Net-a-Porter business plan, she got it straight away. She knew women would buy from photos alone. She was the biggest investor and still owns 31 percent. Another quirky believer was Tamara Mellon of Jimmy Choo. When Natalie explained the concept to her, she got it right away and was one of the first brands to sign up. Once they had Jimmy Choo it was easier to get other big brands.

So now Net-a-Porter remains the luxury role model for the web. Natalie spelled out some stats you might find interesting:

Average order: Over $1,000
Average income of customer: $300,000
Average age of customer: 35
Percent of sales in the UK: 40
Size of staff: 330
(Nearly all her customers are women)

What was her advice for brands following her lead?

-Be global. Don't alienate your fans in Korea by launching a U.S. only site.
-Over-estimate your potential. You don't want to be trying to play catch-up when sales double overnight. (As opposed to 2000 when she launched and the big brands were over estimating the potential of the net.)
-Use the internet to extend your service ours. Just because your doors are shut doesn't mean people don't want to communicate with you.
-Put your entire range online. Or, if not, put the best stuff online. Why go online with the little stuff? It's an insult to your customer.
-Customers will bear with you if you communicate with them. If you cannot afford 24 hour customer service, tell them so and tell them you're working on it.
-Establish your online presence today. It will be easier than it will be tomorrow.

Why listen to Natalie? Well, the Net-a-Porter stats are pretty impressive. It is growing 100 percent a year, and has done since it was founded. I wish I had invested in the beginning.