Net-a-porter revenues soar

Net-a-porter, the luxury etailer that opened for business seven years ago, is going from strength to strength. The company has posted a whopping 61.5 percent rise in pre-tax profit to £2.1 million. This includes the expense of opening a distribution centre in New York last year. Revenues soared 74.6 percent to £37.2 million. This marks the third profitable year for the company, which has seen sales grow annually since its launch.

According to founder Natalie Massanet, the firm has benefited from the increased sale of apparel over the internet. According to WWD, apparel sales last year exceeded those of computers and software to become the premiere category online. "There is greater adoption and confidence with online shopping," she told the trade magazine. "A lot of our customers have been getting emails from Net-a-porter for a while, but now that purchasing online has become a way of life for them in other areas, such as groceries and travel, they are going over to apparel."

In 2005, the company had about 2,000 new customers a month. Last year, the number grew to 3,000, making it apparent that much of the profit comes from new business, as well as from a loyal customer base. The average order value has increased slightly, as have gross profit margins, from 47.6 percent to 48.4 percent. Net-a-porter continues to grow its brand portfolio to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse customer base, which now also includes the Middle East and Australia.

The company's main strength, according to Massanet, is its editorial approach to fashion. "We were founded on the principle of reviewing trends in the busines from an editorial perspective and offering them for sale to the customer," she told WWD, adding that Net-a-porter knows that its customers want fashion forward items and so that is what it continue to offer. Net-a-porter is partially owned by Compagnie Financière Richemont and has no plans to sell or go public.