FASHION: changing the way we shop

Natalie Massenet, net-a-porter.com and theoutnet.com

As the brains behind online shopping sites Net-à-porter (launched in 2000) and theOutnet (launched this year), 44-year-old Massenet has revolutionised the way we shop. When Net-à-porter launched, many industry observers predicted failure, saying that women wouldn’t buy luxury fashion online. They were wrong. With theOutnet, Massenet has once again kept ahead of the game.

‘We had customers who only shopped in the Net-à-porter sale,’ she says. ‘So we created a place for the sale shopper to go, where we’d done the rummaging for them.’ Alongside theOutnet’s director Stephanie Phair, Massenet created the ultimate designer treasure trove – all at bargain prices.

Massenet still sees opportunities online. ‘We have more than two million women a month visiting our sites, and a customer base of active shoppers in the hundreds of thousands,’ she says. ‘So we’re a long way from the day when women shop exclusively online, but we have everything to look forward to in the future.’

Massenet embraces everything an online- business model has to offer. ‘A lot of the strategies for theOutnet came from listening to bloggers and people Tweeting about what they wanted from us,’ she says.The listening worked.

‘We took the first week’s planned turnover in five hours,’ she says. ‘I think we underestimated the response to theOutnet.’

What the judges said:
Jane Shepherdson: ‘Natalie stood out above everyone else in this category. Her business makes available every designer to everybody in the world. I’ve bought from her many, many times.’

Liz Garrett: ‘Natalie’s business was innovative from the start, and she’s been a leader ever since in a very tough industry.’