The dotcom collapse was rumbling steadily through the nascent internet industry in 2000. Yet in March of that year online fashion store Net-a-Porter was launched by Natalie Massenet and run by three people from a room in Chelsea. At the same, Boo.com (also an online fashion retailer and reportedly valued at more than £200 million even before its launch in August 1999) was heading for liquidation. Boo.com finally went down in May 2000, but Net-a-Porter has since grown from three people to over 300 – spanning two continents – and a 2007 turnover of more than £37 million. Not only that, but unlike many online retailers the site sells luxury fashion brands at full price, not at a discount.
Contributing greatly to Net-a-Porter’s success is the business’ approach to service design, web design and even packaging. Its site uniquely combines editorial content with ecommerce functionality in way that makes it easy for users to understand. As Massenet describes it, Net-a-Porter is ‘the world’s first weekly online glossy, with a difference: you can click and buy’. The inclusion of a magazine browsing format keeps the technology at a ‘lowest common denominator’, making it simple to access even for the non-technologically minded. It also attracts fashion editorial readers who can be converted to shoppers at a click.
The online design is coupled with a luxury packaging design, all created in-house, as well as next-day delivery in the key London and Manhattan markets. ‘It’s important to control the entire customer experience. We very much believe in investing in the experience, in making it richer with more content and more video. We’re always trying to fuse content with commerce,’ Massenet told Google’s Zeitgeist 2007 conference. Having survived the wreckage of the dotcom collapse – and with over 3,000 new shoppers every month – Net-a-Porter’s attention to its service design has without a doubt already paid substantial dividends.
