Case Study Assignment by Zihan Zhao

Design Management, Leadership and Innovation

Case Study Zihan Zhao

CONTENT 1 E-commerce and design management 2 Net-a-porter: not just a shopping website Brand value and cultures Does the merger means "bigger, stronger"? Yoox Net-a-Porter Group

P4-7 P8-18 9 14 16

3 Design Management in Net-a-porter

P19-32 19 Design Strategy 25 Design Managers in company: remits and role profile 30 Design Project Management 32 Challenges: manage to win in the fashion e-commerce race

4 Evaluation 5 References 6 Appendix 7 Supplyments

P33 P34 P37 P38

1 E-commerce and design management Anyone would never think about the first thing purchased on the Web was a pizza. PizzaNet, Pizza Hut's website, allowed customers in the USA to order online. It was the first e-commerce site (Boulton, 2015). Since the early 90s, many companies moved into online retail, until now, customers can shop almost everything online. The famous fashion brands like Dior, Gucci and Prada are rethinking their traditional way of sales and marketing strategy to include the digital methods and specifically online shops to make their brands fit for the future. Most fashion brands have realised the importance of Internet presence. Forced by recent declining sales in the physical stores since 2000, due to the economic downturn, the majority of fashion brands seeks opportunities online where e-commerce still gives them double-digit growth (Hansen and BjĂ¸rn-Andersen, 2011). The customers expect from brands more than a flagship store at the high street or a website can only purchase goods. Previous research related to online fashion lead that consumers need a website experience that is memorable, engaging and interactive; a website that can provide social interaction, two-way communication and customers want a personalised relationship with the product they purchased (Siddiqui et al. 2003, Dallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Olmo Riley and Lacroix, 2003, Serringhaus, 2005). However, selling and branding luxury fashion products online requires a different set of strategies and tools compare to branding and selling any other commodity product online. Fashion brands flourish by combining emotion, image and perception. Hence, the problem is how to convey these features of intangibility, multisensory experiences and perceptibility online (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009).

A sampling of items customers added to their Net-a-Porter shopping carts on a recent 9 a.m. EST

Net-a-porter website was launched in June 2000, and currently have 6 million users and have a global reach with customers over 170 countries (Net-a-porter, 2016). The company has successfully built up itself as a luxury brand, with charming packaging and unrivaled customer care. Net-a-porter was operating out of a London flat by Natalie Massanet, whom as magazine editor turned Internet entrepreneur. Now Net-a-porter is the world's premier online luxury fashion retailer. It has been expanded with the Outnet, a discount platform, and Mr. Porter site designed for men. SEE appendix 1

At September of 2015, The NETA-PORTER Group merged with another online retailer the Yoox. The Yoox is buying Net-aPorter from Richemont, forming a world’s largest fashion e-tailer, with combined 2014 net revenues of €1.3 billion, and Adjusted EBITDA of approximately €108 million (Ynap.com, 2016). The rapid growth of the company shows no signs of slowing down, with the launch of a publishing business, a new application with sharing and shopping functions, logistics expansions in the Asia-Pacific region, also beauty products the latest addition to the site.

E-commerce asks for new challenges to design managers. Design management is about successful management of the people, projects, processes and procedures behind the design of our everyday experiences, products and environments. Also, it is about management of the relationship between different disciplines (such as design, finance, marketing and management) and between the various roles (such as clients, designers, project teams and stakeholders) (Best, 2010). This case study explores the company Neta-porter's and how Net-a-porter achieves the world-class design. The case study is adopted interview and quantitative research methods to learn the facts of the business. Furthermore, the following elements also been considered into this case study: company structure, company culture and leadership approach, design project management, design strategy, design research methods used in the corporation and creative industry challenges.

2 Net-a-porter: not just a shopping website When we talk about Net-a-porter, we must mention this lady: Natalie Mas足senet, who founded this highend fashion e-tailer Net-a-Porter, which changed the way we shop for luxury fashion forever. Massenet is pretty much the embodiment of the Net-a-Porter customer (Pressler, 2015). Internally, this customer is known as She. Data and market research indicate She is "38 years old, She travels six to nine times a year for leisure. She is very fashionforward. She wants it first. Also, she lives all over the place." "He, the Mr. Porter customer, is essentially the same person, only more interested in analog writing utensils." (Net-aporter, 2016)

NATALIE MASSENET AT THE NET A PORTER GROUP HQ

2.1 Brand Value and Cultures Massenet has strong personalities and leads the company to their unique culture; Their core values stand for everything they do: " Be the best Lead not follow Exceed expectations Smart and stylish Service starts with yourself " These Net-a-porter brand values are shown on their website. It is a reflect of Natalie Massenet herself, but the company is not only that. “This is a business about fashion, but we are also about service and technology, so there’s not one without the other.” said Massenet (Pressler, 2015). Net-a-porter also announced that these values are genuine and not a tick in the box exercise - with so many people from so many different backgrounds, doing so many different jobs and delivering so much - Neta-porter cannot all be identical and fashion is about expressing your personal style. Net-a-porter has multi-national staffs and, therefore, it is a multi-cultural company, they are extremely proud of their diversity. Net-a-

porter has the policy to provide equal opportunities for everyone regardless of their gender, marital status, religion or belief, ethnic, cultural or national origins, disability, sexual orientation, age or any other condition that cannot be shown to be justifiable. "Net-a-Porter is a hub of creativity and talent, because you have to collaborate so closely with so many other teams which makes you appreciate and respect others people's work." One of current Employee said (NET-A-PORTER, 2016).

Besides, the working environment has a huge impact on team work and collaboration. The Net-a-Porter’s London office is located inside the Westfield Mall, a high-end shopping center full of the kind of brick-andmortar stores Net-a-Porter might put out of business. The 40,000 sq ft. office was transformed from a swimming pool and sports centre with 10M ceiling height. Benefit from the structure of space, all teams connected in a no wall environment. “I wanted to make sure that the whole company was unified, like you were opening one door from one office space and then entering another one,” explained Massenet, “The wall treatments are meant to be a nod to a Parisian apartment, and the chandeliers are there to balance out the tech aspects of our business, because I believe in yin-and-yang balance.” This ‘ progressive working environment’ has office, photographic studios, retail and event space (Etherington, 2010). Studiofibre, which designed this project understand Net-a-porter brand as “a strong masculine presence, with a feminine finesse.” They used smooth vaulted fabric ceilings, bespoke contemporary lighting rafts, elegant Murano glass chandeliers, soaring, oversized panelled doors, sculpted bespoke furniture and a mixture of matt and high gloss finishes that scoop out dimension in an otherwise flat, monochromatic palette together to capture the essence of this brand. (Studiofibre, 2016)

Massenet's office sits at the end of the main space, a long, openplan series of workstations where the hundreds of staff work together. Aesthetics aside, the layout reflects an essential part of the business' philosophy. "Everyone counts and it is a very democratic company," says Massenet. "Even though I have a separate office, the walls are glass and the doors are always open." (OYSTER, 2012)

Net-A-Porter Office by Studiofibre

What the Net-A-Porter girls wear. Alys, Katie, Kim, Jane, Miranda and Rosemary wear velvet trousers. Photo: Joanna Paterson

From the interviews (Indeed.co.uk, 2015), 10% of current or previous employee marked the company working experience as five stars. “Most enjoyable part of the job is working alongside with diversity of cultural team and achieving targets.” said by a current first line manager. “A wonderful experience with genuine people who really cared about the quality of the work we were doing and creating.Thankful for the opportunity to work with the people at Net-A-Porter,” said a former Fashion Closet Assistant. “Management are good, Friendly Team, Keeping Focused, Completed Objectives” said Current Training Assistant.

80% of interviewees marked the working experience above three stars. Current staffs also pointed out it is difficult to have development in Net-a-porter although it is a good place to work.

Organization culture can be different from department to department. Since Yoox and Net-a-porter were merged from September 2015,Yoox Net-a-porter Group published their combined core values are: SPIRIT CONDUCT EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE LISTENING TO THE CLIENT INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE ITALIAN DNA FERTILE GROWTH Mark Sebba, CEO of Net-APorter, stepped down after 11 years in charge. On his last day, he was greeted by dancing employees at the company’s London headquarters, located at Westfield Shopping Centre (ROBINSON, 2014).

Organisational Structure The Net-A-Porter Group Limited was registered on 05 Aug 1999 with its registered office in London. The business currently employs 1000-2499 people. Job functions are divided to Creative, Information technology, Engineering Support, Marketing , Human resources, Operations, Buyer, Public relations and Sales. Net-a-Porter offers the same assortment of goods across geographies. Therefore, they have centralized buying teams, technology teams, and customer service teams. To address different geographies’ needs, NetA-Porter separates the marketing teams by region. Additionally, according to Theresa Austin (Barton, 2016), Strategic Programme Manager, goals are aligned by team. For instance, the operations and customer service groups focus on proficiency and efficiency, whereas the mobile, marketing, and data insight groups focus on innovation and “open-minded changes”.

2.2 Does the merger means "bigger, stronger"? After the merger, Massenet quit the business she founded 15 years ago at September, 2015. She leaves Net-a-Porter “bigger, stronger and superbly well-positioned” for the future (Roberts, 2015). In her farewell letter (The Telegraph, 2015), this lady kept inspiring all her staff: “You are the most important people for me to let know that after 15 years, I am taking advantage of a new chapter in the company history to leave the Net-A- Porter stage and let you skilfully and beautifully create the future of fashion. ” “BLESS: Be the best: Don’t settle for less. Strive to be the best you can be and to live truly with high standards. If you aim for middle of the road then if you succeed that’s exactly where you will be. Always aim higher and higher and that’s where you will go. Lead, don’t follow: ok — follow instructions and follow advice, and be collaborative BUT STRIVE TO make a difference. Do this in business, and in your own life. Celebrate individuality. Opportunity finds you when you go looking for it. Exceed expectations: at the very least do what you say you’ll do or are expected to do. But no one remembers those things. Add flourish, a thoughtful touch, something unexpected. It can be the tiniest of gestures or details.You will be amazed how far the little extra bit gets you – no matter how massive an undertaking you might have delivered. Be Smart and Stylish: Celebrate both in everything; your life, your team mates, an intricate operational matrix, a new operating program, a fashion story. Intelligence is stylish and vice versa. Celebrate and create balance between the two. Don’t have one without the other. And Serve, serve, serve: never ask someone to do something you wouldn’t do yourself and likewise follow the golden rule — treat others as you would like to be treated. Make yourself indispensable. ” A leader’s departure is a pivotal moment for any business. This is even truer for leading retail companies, where those at the top are often wellknown figureheads who embody the company culture for employees. These changes in the company will be strongly felt internally at all levels. So that the managing change internally is essential for

Net-a-porter. The risk is that some of the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s workforce could lose the loyalty and emotional attachment they feel for the brand, leading to a talent exodus. An organisation in this situation must remind its employees why they have invested their time and energy in it, show that their personal contribution is valued and that their work will fuel its future success. This must be communicated clearly and in an inspiring way to everyone, and its senior leaders need to be aligned and on message. Mergers and leadership changes can have a significant impact on morale and engagement, but if all these steps are taken, the chances of success increase strikingly as the cumulative power of employees can carry the company forward on its new journey.

2.3 Yoox Net-a-Porter Group Through leveraging an interlocked business model and operating strategy, Yoox Net-A-Porter has successfully defined the luxury e-commerce space and is positioned as the clear market leader in the industry. The business model is definitively aligned with the operating model (close relationships with suppliers, best-in-class logistics, geographic scale), creating high barriers to entry. The Company targets the luxury market – purchases with relatively high Average Order Value.YNAP aims to cover all the main geographical luxury markets and all luxury fashion customer segments (mono-brand, inseason, off-season) (Ynap.com, 2016). Operating Model Relationships with Suppliers The luxury market has a relatively fixed number of items that are available for sale (which helps drive higher prices). As such, the access to this limited supply is a key competitive advantage for YNAP. This link to suppliers is an integral aspect of YNAP’s operating model. YNAP must retain its close relationships with luxury fashion brands to retain access to products for its multi-brand selling platforms. Geographic Scale The Company continues to strengthen local capabilities allowing for firstly efficient management of local inventories and secondly close proximity to customers, thus improving overall shopping experience (same-day delivery, several customer care languages) which is key for the luxury segment.Yoox’s aim is to move towards one virtual global inventory system. All local hubs are equipped with their own local sourcing, digital production, and distribution capabilities. This enables an optimized delivery cost structure, an efficient ability to handle returns, and a better quality of parcels upon delivery to final customers. Logistics YNAP has begun to automate its warehouses, segmenting inventory (folded garments vs. smaller items vs. hanging garments), and is aiming for a full deployment of RFid technology. The entire logistics process is outlined below. Although the Company has managed to reduce handling and warehouse costs, a particular focus has been having improvements also lead to improved customer service capabilities.

(Ynap.com, 2016)

Net-a-porter SWOT Analysis

Strength

Weaknesses

Unique design

No contact with other customers to get reviews

Brand (Company) Recognition Good Customer Service with Style Advisors

Limited Customers (Some Customer does not use E-commerce websites)

Interactive Website

Does not Have Offline Store that Allows the Customers to try the Outfit

Exclusive High-end Fashion Products

Target audience too sepcific

The most up to date trends Some Exclusive Merchandise Collaborations with the most influential designers/people in industry Well utilised social media platforms Global Shipping Premier shipment offers

Opportunity Increasing Growing Offline Presence

Threats Dying luxury market

Collaborations

Bricks and mortar competitor

Capture the Less Technology Savvy Customers

Competition with brick and mortar shops (Barneys) and other luxury online markets (MyTheresa, Farfetch)

Potential Market in Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, beauty, home, and growing menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s market

Online trunk shows (Moda Operandi)

3 Design Management in Net-a-porter 3.1 Design Strategy The strategy defines actions of an organisation or part of an organisation and the future direction. Johnson and Scholes (2006) define corporate strategy as: â&#x20AC;&#x153;the direction and scope of an organisation over the longterm: which achieves advantage for the organization through its configuration of resources within a changing environment to meet the needs of markets and to fulfill stakeholder expectations.â&#x20AC;? Lynch (2000) discussed strategy as an organisationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sense of purpose. An example of a basic stage model reviewing capabilities for sell-side and buy-side e-commerce is shown in Figure 1(Chaffey, 2004). The figure shows how companies will introduce more complex technologies and extend the range of processes which are e-business-enabled.

(Chaffey, 2004) Net-a-porter as an e-commerce company needs to be outstanding from online competitors, one of their strategy is focused on design. From the first version of the website, Massenet designed the concept of a magazine in website format. The users could 'click' to buy while trying to source product online for a fashion shoot

(Wiseman, 2010). To compensate for the lack of tangibility, Net-a-Porter’s online interface creates a “luxury” environment by the carefully chosen font and elegant layout. The homepage strikes the viewer more as a digital magazine with options to view multiple editorials and photo shoots instead of an e-commerce site. The whole “shopping” experience is efficient and clean so that the audience can quickly find what they what. Additionally, when on an actual shopping page, the clothes are presented on models, styled and shot by professionals, and the editorial content has the same aspirational, transportive qualities as that in fashion magazines. In order for Net-a-porter to gain more customer acquisition, they uses strategies like following: Seamless Integrated Marketing Across Multi-Channel Platforms: With the prevalence of mobile being stronger than ever, it is commonplace for users to switch quickly between platforms and still expect the same level of service that they would receive as they walked into a store.

The Net-a-porter App For NET-A-PORTER they have created a shopping interface specifically for seamless mobile shopping. Complete with sumptuous imagery, the 1.6 million downloaders can browse thousands of designers and fashion categories, add items to the wish list or shopping bag and make a purchase then. It is much easier than on their website. The creation of a Net-a-porter app shows a deliberate move to target their busy customers. Their target market is most certainly fashionable savvy ladies and men likely to be working long hours, commuting in and around cities or with several devices they flit between daily. By being available in every form on each, the luxury retailer is making it very convenient to buy from them. The EDIT: Net-a-porterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s weekly digital magazine The Edit combines articles aimed at inspiring shoppers to make a purchase with rich editorial content such as insprational interviews, fashion iÂndustry articles, and health and wellness videos. Customers can shop directly from the online content which all produced by world class fashion shots. The EDIT published in four languages: English, French, German and Mandarin. This

digital magazine is being a factor of directing traffic to the brandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s page on Net-a-porter.com with eight million editorial page impressions per month.(Net-a-porter, 2016) Porter: Print magazine It is uncommon for an online retailer to launch a global magazine. Porter is due to be published six time a year with 400,000 copies of each edition made avaliable across 60 countries. Porter magazine aim to produce compelling content that attracts customers and increase sales. To help promote the magazine, Net-a-porter created an app called â&#x20AC;&#x153;I am porterâ&#x20AC;? which tapped into the craze for selfies.The app allows users to take a photo of themselves or upload an existing favourite photo, add a cover line and Porter masthead to transform themselves into a cover star. Users are then encouraged to share their photo on Twitter or Instagram, and it has proven to be a success. There have already been more than 1,500 mentions of the #IAMPORTER hashtag in only seven days (Moth, 2014).

The Net Set: social shopping network The Net Set is “world’s first luxury shoppable mobile social network”, said by the company. This app creates a one-stop community among shoppers, connects them with brands’ websites, and more importantly, facilitates online shopping. The Net Set offers live resources of luxury items trending at any time, upload and share images of given items and the ability to swap advice and thoughts. Users can join communities within the Net Set made up of people with specific tastes. Fashionistas can purchase items directly from up to 350 collections. Net-A-Porter already has around 4.1 million fans following the brand across various social media platforms such like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, and the network app is aimed in part at getting more transactions out of them. The Net Set can post content, comment on and ‘love’ products. It will also give brands a direct way to communicate with Net-APorter’s customers.

Design Strategy

To sum up, the whole design of Net-a-porter’s brand image aim to take the lead from the fashion e-commerce race and generate more customers. The Websites uses cutting-edge editorials to make the customers wants to purchase their products. Four channels through virtual and physical can promote brand fully. They also hold offline events like pop-up shops and also “window shopping” stores that allows users to use their mobile application to have an interactive experience that is fun and unique. Affiliate Program with other websites is another strategy for the company. Net-a-porter carefully chooses first class, fashion-forward websites to join their affiliate program and give commission back to the websites that promoted for them. Besides, Net-A-Porter Group has a very good post-purchase service. Their products are being delivered in well-designed shopping bags and packages with prompt delivery. The bag is designed as a present. A black beribboned bag, brimming with tissue paper and the promise of a life-changing ensemble will deliver by a uniformed footman. A personalised label is written with customer’s name in elaborate script. They also offers pick up for return or exchange products for customers who are not satisfied with their purchase, so instead of having to pack and take the package to post office to mail it, customers only have to wait for Net-A-Porter to come and pick it up.

3.2 Design Managers in company: remits and role profile As an ART DIRECTOR in Net-a-porter, the remits are: • Led design direction on NET-A-PORTER’s digital global presence across desktop and mobile platforms • Produced compelling content for the weekly online magazine, marketing communications and special projects e.g. Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, Halston and RM by Roland Mouret. • Provided creative vision for new e-tailing concepts, competitive site analysis, brand audit and project strategy. • Collaborated with key stakeholders to ensure the best creative solutions were realised and implemented (including direction of photo shoots). Art Director develop and execute creative concepts for Neta-porter which helped build the world’s premier online fashion destination, through the fusion of content and commerce providing an exceptional experience for customers and brands. Art Director also responsibility for other websites under Net-aporter Group: The Outnet • Created and launched a successful NAP sister brand and website offering discounted clothing. • Developed brand identity, guidelines, designed all marketing material on and offline and oversaw implementation.

GROUP ADVERTISING MANAGER Editorial content is core to the modern ecommerce experience and the ultimate point of reference for our global consumers in the fashion space, whether online or offline – anytime, anywhere and on any platform. The Group’s unparalleled media and publishing division creates award-winning content for our titles including but not limited to Porter, The EDIT and The Journal, connecting with The Group’s consumers in a unique and authentic way. Reporting into the Associate Publisher, advertising manager will take responsibility for growing display advertising revenues, sponsorships and special advertising projects across Net-A-Porter, Mr Porter, The Outnet and Porter magazine globally. Key Responsibilities: • Grow top line advertising revenues across all 4 businesses • Build market share across key categories including but not limited to; travel, finance, arts & culture categories. • Work with internal stakeholders including Editorial, Creative, Technology, Mobile and Social Media to create value whilst maintaining key, core values of each brand. • Act as an ambassador for all 4 brands and be active externally in promoting the business • Keep abreast of competitor activities and industry developments PROJECT MANAGER - CREATIVE SOLUTIONS Working with all departments to achieve maximum productivity whilst ensuring brand values and quality is reflected, this person will need to have a strong team approach. Project manager will work alongside Creative Solutions Designer and Art Director to manage world class creative solutions projects and brand partnerships. The role will also see project manager working closely with multiple internal departments such as Editorial, Marketing, Tech, Translations and Merchandising teams across the group portfolio including Net-A-Porter, Mr Porter, Porter And The Outnet to make sure campaigns are delivered on time and to budget.

Role Responsibilities: • To contribute creatively and productively in team brainstorms. • Must be able to scope projects, plan timelines and assess risks, with the character to pro-actively lead your projects forwards in both planning and implementation stages. You will own the overall content plan along with timings and deliverables. • Cross discipline project management of global projects touching multiple teams within the company including: Art Direction and design, Ad Operations, UX, Tech, Editorial, Production, Translations, Marketing and Merchandising. Project Manager will be responsible for pulling together all teams to ensure cohesion and alignment on plans, with careful consideration of impact for each team. • Will own the capturing of requirements from multiple departments, and be responsible for ensuring clear communication of stakeholder decisions, timings and status. • To be responsible for ensuring all creative projects are produced on-brand and of the highest quality with a healthy profit margin. • To produce still and video shoots plus be able to work with production companies to produce large scale and or global productions. • Be responsible for ensuring clear communication to external stakeholders on content, decisions, timings and project status. On a day-to-day basis the role will involve: • Communicating with both internal and external stakeholders. • Project planning, budgeting and structure for both live and pitch work. • Facilitating meetings across departments. • Manage approvals and deadlines for each and every stakeholder in a project by trafficking requirements to ensure assigned lead times are met. Experience & Skills Required: • Proven track history of success working as a Project Manager in a Marketing or Creative industry. • Confident trouble-shooter and mediator. • Must be detail-oriented, deadline driven, and able to multi-task with solid organizational and time management skills. • Aptitude and prior experience with numbers and managing budgets.

• Highly effective oral and written communication skills. • Ability to prioritize and handle several projects simultaneously. • Proficiency with Microsoft Word and Excel. • Experience in dealing with luxury clients. • Experience managing and producing multi-platform campaigns. • A strong team player who can develop trusted relationships between internal departments. Another example is the Art Director of The EDIT, Net-a-porter’s digital magazine.

Role purpose: The Art Director will lead and manage the NET-A-PORTER digital magazine design team ensuring delivery of all content to the highest standards, within budget and to deadline in line with editorial and NET-A-PORTER brand style. Key Responsibilities: • Design and Art Direction of NET-A-PORTER’s digital magazine and all associated collateral. • Art direction of international celebrity, model, beauty, accessories and still life photography and video shoots • Management of the magazine’s design team, providing leadership, inspiration, guidance, support and direction. Encourage excellence, and team spirit • Develop and maintain photography/industry contacts and represent the interests of all associated NET-A-PORTER platforms • Develop and maintain the visual direction of the magazine and the reader experience • Collaborate with PORTER magazine and Brand Creative where necessary to share assets and maximize value to the business • Keep up to date with emerging trends in fashion, design, film, art, media and technology where relevant to your role and the design team • Work closely with the production team to ensure the most creative and effective use of budgets Skills and Experience: • Proven depth of experience in editorial photography and design with strong knowledge of digital publishing and best practice • Excellent communication skills • Excellent international industry contacts • Some experience of creatively leading video concepts • Experience of managing teams • Detail orientated and well organized • Highly proficient designer using both Photoshop and InDesign • Highly proficient retouching • Basic knowledge/understanding of CSS and HTML • Interest and awareness of women’s fashion (NET-A-PORTER, 2016)

3.3 Design Project Management

The journey of design of the shoppable social platform The Net Set that powered by Net-a-porter will be presented here as an example of design project management in Net-a-porter. Creative director Alexandra Hoffnung explained the challenges of approaching the design for the mobile app and what the future holds (Mortimer, 2015). The brief for The Net Set was to "create an app that would feel fresh, part of the Net-a-Porter family but with its own identity to draw it apart from the e-tailer’s main branding" (Mortimer, 2015). The Net Book idea which based on a diary or Filofax is the beta version of The Net Set started out, a model of concept app that women could write ideas in. It’s successor, says Hoffnung is much more paired down and streamlined to reflect the shift in style of Apple’s iOS7 update. “Being set the challenge of designing something that is respectful and has a very strong nod to the Neta-Porter brand but also has a point of difference is very challenging,” says Hoffnung. The Net Set app project took two years in the making. The App is a design that incorporates Net-a-Porter’s well-known simple colour design but uses a splash of

red for the first time as a highlight state for the navigation tab at the bottom of the app and as a selection indicator. The process was not “an easy ride” stresses Hoffnung who went through “a lot” of iterations together with Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massenet. “You have a lot of people who are very passionate about how Net-a-Porter looks as a brand- it’s been that way for 15 years so it’s very established and being able to be respectful of that and take certain elements of it that work for this project and integrating it with new ones is very challenging.” The Net Set app used a new font, Avenir, in order to fit the user experience on a small screen. The choice of font follows the brand guideline as Net-a-Porter website uses a similar font but this was too "heavy" for digital usage to give it the weight that it needed to be legible on mobile. “As a creative director you have to be so in tune with user experience

as well as design – we never would approach something just because we liked the way it looked,” says Hoffnung. “The role of the designer has changed a lot over the last couple of years, you have to be so much more in tune with how products behave as well as how they look.” Net-a-porter is a data-driven company, research is important to the marketing and the rest of company functions. Head of Global Paid Search will be developing the group’s global paid search strategy and leading the operational delivery. Research Methods are both qualitative and quantitive. A defined relevant search KPIs is necessary to ensure that the overall contribution to revenue and business growth through search is the maximum. Net-a-porter’s global paid search strategy is developed for all search engines and consumer platforms.

3.4 Challenges: manage to win in the fashion e-commerce race NET-A-PORTER takes pride in being an innovative media company as well as an online luxury retailer. As Publisher, the main difficulty will be the decline of prints publishing. As an online retailer, Net-aporter facing a huge amount of competitors around the world. The European sites targeted customers in the rest of the world. To avoid similar design strategy with other luxury online retailers like Farfetch and MyTheresa, Net-a-porter need keep their design guideline in a very high standard as always. Online luxury sales are projected to grow 20 to 25 percent over the next five years, compared to only 3 to 4 percent for the luxury industry as a whole, meaning a rising tide for all online fashion players (KANSARA, 2015). However, there will not be one winnertakes-all model for fashion. Net-a-porter would need to continue finding new strategic positions through expansion while refining its operational capabilities to sustain long-term growth.

4 Evaluation From the well known black packaging of Net-a-porter shopping bag to the advanced app The Net Set, Neta-porter kept the design in world class standard. To make sure that, it takes long time during every design project, design manager have whole responsibility of the process and the final output of design projects. He or she as a design manager need to keep a healthy company culture: define how to plan the work, plan the environment and values, for example, sharing, transparency and collaboration. These factors will help to build trust and enhance the quality of communication. Net-a-Porter CIO Hugh Fahy said the innovative way of working is getting the groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 300-strong IT team to work as small, startup-like teams that are more closely aligned with the business. Instead of being grouped by technology function, like operations and administration, the team is now aligned by group function and the brands (Nguyen, 2015). It is a good way of generating ideas so that staff from different disciplines can benefit from each other. Design Managers should have their own methodologies of working and being a "people glue" to communicate with both designers, clients and project teams. After

the merge with Yoox which has significance differences in design style and brand image, Net-a-porter needs to rethink their design strategy and the brand design guideline. The managing change internally is also essential for the company as the founder Natalie Massenet quit the company, who embody the company culture for employees.

References Barton, S. (2016). Strategy In Fashion at Net-A-Porter | Articles | Strategy. [online] Channels.theinnovationenterprise.com. Available at: https://channels. theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/59-strategy-in-fashion-at-net-a-porter [Accessed 9 Jan. 2016]. Best, K. (2010). The fundamentals of design management. Lausanne: AVA Academia. Boulton, J. (2015). 100 ideas that changed the web. Boston, Massachusetts : Credo Reference, 2015. Chaffey, D. (2004). E-business and e-commerce management. Harlow, England: FT Prentice Hall. Dallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Olmo Riley, F. and Lacroix, C. (2003). Luxury branding on the Internet: lost opportunity or impossibility?. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 21(2), pp.96-104. Etherington, R. (2010). Net-A-Porter by Studiofibre | Dezeen. [online] Dezeen. Available at: http://www.dezeen.com/2010/08/04/net-a-porterlondon-store-by-studiofibre/ [Accessed 9 Jan. 2016]. Hansen, R. and BjĂ¸rn-Andersen, N. (2011). The adoption of Web 2.0 by luxury fashion brands.. 1st ed. Copenhagen. Indeed.co.uk, (2015). Working at The NET-A-PORTER Group: Employee Reviews | Indeed.co.uk. [online] Available at: http://www.indeed.co.uk/cmp/ The-Net--a--porter-Group/reviews?fcountry=ALL&fjobtitle=ALL [Accessed 9 Jan. 2016]. KANSARA,V. (2015). Who's Winning the Fashion E-Commerce Race?. [online] The Business of Fashion. Available at: http://www.businessoffashion. com/articles/bof-500/online-sales-e-commerce-net-a-porter-yoox-farfetch [Accessed 10 Jan. 2016]. Kapferer, J. and Bastien,V. (2009). The luxury strategy. London: Kogan Page.

MORTIMER, N. (2015). Net-a-Porter creative director explains ‘challenging’ design process of social shopping network The Net Set. [online] The Drum. Available at: http://www.thedrum.com/news/2015/05/22/net-porter-creativedirector-explains-challenging-design-process-social-shopping [Accessed 10 Jan. 2016]. Moth, D. (2014). Net-A-Porter increases investment in content with new shoppable print magazine. [online] Econsultancy. Available at: https:// econsultancy.com/blog/64286-net-a-porter-increases-investment-in-contentwith-new-shoppable-print-magazine/ [Accessed 10 Jan. 2016]. NET-A-PORTER, (2016). About Us | NET-A-PORTER.COM. [online] Available at: http://www.net-a-porter.com/gb/en/About-Us/Our-Company [Accessed 8 Jan. 2016]. Nguyen, A. (2015). Net-a-Porter: The luxury online retailer goes back to its startup roots. [online] Techworld. Available at: http://www.techworld. com/e-commerce/net-porter-luxury-online-retailer-goes-back-its-startuproots-3594148/ [Accessed 11 Jan. 2016]. OYSTER, (2012). Oyster Interview: Net-A-Porter's Natalie Massenet | Fashion Magazine | News. Fashion. Beauty. Music. | oystermag.com. [online] Available at: http://www.oystermag.com/oyster-interview-net-a-portersnatalie-massenet [Accessed 9 Jan. 2016]. Pressler, J. (2015). The World Is Not Enough for Net-a-Porter. [online] The Cut. Available at: http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/08/net-a-porter-bigger-betterfuture.html# [Accessed 8 Jan. 2016]. Roberts, A. (2015). Massenet’s Departure May Smooth Integration of Yoox Net-a-Porter. [online] The Business of Fashion. Available at: http://www. businessoffashion.com/articles/news-analysis/massenets-departure-maysmooth-integration-of-yoox-net-a-porter [Accessed 9 Jan. 2016]. ROBINSON, W. (2014). Is this the best retirement party ever?. [online] Mail Online. Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2710690/Is-best-

retirement-party-The-incredible-goodbye-staff-fashion-firm-Net-A-Porteroutgoing-CEO-thousands-dancing-workers-steel-drum-bands-gospel-choirsworld.html [Accessed 10 Jan. 2016]. Seringhaus, F. (2005). Selling Luxury Brands Online. Journal of Internet Commerce, 4(1), pp.1-25. Siddiqui, N., Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Malley, A., McColl, J. and Birtwistle, G. (2003). Retailer and consumer perceptions of online fashion retailers: Web site design issues. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, 7(4), pp.345-355. Studiofibre, (2016). studiofibre. [online] Available at: http://www.studiofibre. com/ [Accessed 9 Jan. 2016]. The Telegraph, (2015). Read Natalie Massenet's inspiring farewell email to Net-a-Porter staff. [online] Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/ people/natalie-massenet-inspiring-parting-email-to-her-staff/ [Accessed 9 Jan. 2016]. Wiseman, E. (2010). One-click wonder: the rise of Net-a-porter. [online] the Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/11/ natalie-massenet-net-a-porter-internet-fashion [Accessed 10 Jan. 2016]. Ynap.com, (2016).YOOX NET-A-PORTER GROUP â&#x20AC;&#x201C; YNAP.com. [online] Available at: http://www.ynap.com/ [Accessed 9 Jan. 2016].

Appendix

Supplements The company review interview 5 of 5 stars Productive and friendly Distribution assistant (Former Employee), London Pros: Low canteen prices Cons: Temporary Friendly, multicultural work place with supportive management. Not only about the numbers but how you personally grow and develop. Decent amount of security workers and cameras, but this is expected of an online luxury designer fashion retailer. 3 of 5 stars productive and fun work place. Distribution Assistant (Current Employee), London, ENG Pros: good salery Cons: long hours Productive and fun work place. I have learnt various offices skills which has given me confidence in that area. I have enjoyed working with high end designer goods and learning the process of distribution. 4 of 5 stars Productive and fun work place Customer Advisor (Current Employee), Charlton, ENG A typical day at work would consist of answering customers inquiries either over the phone or by email, assisting customers with placing orders or tracking orders and updating customers with information about their account plus much more, everyday i would learn something new. There was never a quiet moment, except lunch time, but even then we had so much to do, I was committed to ensuring I had everything under control, constantly following up on customers orders until customers where satisfied. I never realised how good my multitasking skills could be until I was introduced to the system in Net-a-Porter. the hardest part of the job was not being able to close a customers case or update the customer with something new. I always try my best to resolve a customers query as soon as possible or at least try and offer an alternative. The most enjoyable part was a customer calling and hearing pure satisfaction in a customers voice after i dealt with their query, being called a superstar was a plus. My co workers and i worked very well together, my motto was, team work makes the dream work. I enjoy learning new things and always attempt my best and from my case counts you can tell i always do my best.

3 of 5 stars Never going back there again Distribution Assistant (Former Employee), London, ENG Pros: good money, that's about it. Cons: fake employments and fake hopes I was a really hard worker but didn't get anything in return. All they want is cheap labor. 99% of the people were EU, no wonder why I didn't get kept on. 4 of 5 stars Fun and productive work place First Line Manager (Current Employee), London Pros: working alongside diverse people Cons: long hours Come early before the shift starts to get handover>make plans according to priority order>check mails that might have impact on work flow> check warehouse management System then brief the team what is expected from them. deal with queries/ issues that arise. Keep close eye on data from system to see everything is running smoothly. keep close eye on staff performance through out the management system and so on. learned to be patient, take step back and analyse the situation before acting, be firm and fair and most importantly place controls e.g. targets and Company policies. The hardest part of the job is to maintain consistent performance from staff through out the shift. This is achieved by encouraging, motivating, coaching and if necessary providing training in areas that have ben identified. Most enjoyable part of the job is working alongside with diversity of cultural team and achieving targets. 4 of 5 stars very productive workplace Warehouse Operative (Former Employee), Charlton, ENG Pros: two 30min breaksCons: 12 hours 5 days p/w it was a very hard working job, I was doing 12 hours a day for 5 days a week. I enjoyed working there over the christams period 4 of 5 stars Always Busy Training Assistant (Current Employee), Charlton, ENG

Pros: chilling rooms/dinerCons: tiring hours After Briefing updates and SSOW IWS monitoring SLA's to make sure there packed on time Management are good Friendly Team Keeping Focused Completed Objectives 4 of 5 stars Good place to work Distribution Assistant / Upload Assistant (Current Employee), London Pros: benefits, close to home location Cons: no development Good place to work, like everything except, there was no chance to develop for me. 1 of 5 star Temps treated poorly ecommerce associate (packer) (Former Employee), Mahwah, NJ Pros: two breaks, 45 minute lunch, no customers Cons: lack of morale, temps treated poorly I was hired as a temporary ecommerce fulfillment associate (packer) in the Mahwah distribution center for the holiday sale period. We were trained for four days and then thrown out on the floor. The training was okay but wasn’t at all thorough, though we knew enough to do the basics of our job. The job itself is not hard, but it can be fast paced, as they want your completed orders to be high (productivity equals money for the company). Given the very tiny shared working space and the lack of supplies, it’s definitely difficult. Conveyor belts often jam up leaving totes and large boxes in your workspace. It’s a mess, but this is the life of a packer at Net-A-Porter. A handful of people in the center are very nice and helpful and do care about their employees, temps or not. Most people (especially the managers) couldn’t care less about the temps. At a meeting in front of the entire distribution center the lead manager blatantly told the temps not to bother the managers as they have their own permanent people that they are responsible for.You’re told you’d be working 40 hours, but they do as they please. If it’s slow they send you home. They offer overtime to their permanent people, which displaces the temps from their working stations,

leaving them to work even more undesirable tasks. They simply don’t care. It’s common to hear “you’re only a temp.” They use you, treat you poorly and then you’re gone. If you speak up for yourself you’re a goner. I wouldn't recommend this job to anyone. 1 of 5 star Not happy E-Commerce Associate/Fulfillment Associate (Former Employee), Mahwah, wasnt the best experience, bosses are rude, HR dept doesnt work in your best interest. A lot of micro managing. Management is not qualified to over see people. 5 of 5 stars Fashion Closet Assistant (Former Employee), New York, NY A wonderful experience with genuine people who really cared about the quality of the work we were doing and creating. Thankful for the opportunity to work the people at Net-A-Porter. 3 of 5 stars We have two 15 min breaks and half hour for lunch on the Express Team. E-Commerce Associate (Current Employee), Mahwah, NJ Pros: pay and benefits are good...medical, dental, vision, 401K retirement plan Cons: Parking is an issue where we need shuttles to and from our cars, when slow we work upstairs which is 40 steps and no bathroom provided upstairs Pleasant working conditions with polite people. Cafeteria, modern interior design, large kitchen with microwaves and refrigerators and two coffee machines with utensils and paper goods provided for employees. Gym and locker areas provided. When it is busy, we pack items all day and lift totes off conveyer to complete orders. We have team work and if anyone needs help, we all pitch in and help when asked. The downside lately is parking issue in lot. Company provides shuttle service to and from various parking areas nearby. Car pools are utilized as well. 3 of 5 stars A company ran by temporary employees. Customer Care Advisor (Former Employee), Mahwah, NJ A typical day at work is answering emails from customers. The hardest part of the job is that I had to work on Sundays. I worked long hours, and

to top it off I had to park across the street which was a highway, was very dangerous. 2 of 5 stars would not work there twmp (Former Employee), mahwah Pros: read above Cons: read above Worked there for five weeks. Crazy hours. Horrible pay. Was in ER and very sick and missed days i could not control.it was a temp job. They told me not to come back because o my being sik. I had notes and documentationn.not even considered to come back and make another chance. Their loss. 4 of 5 stars Fashionable Workplace Customer Service (Current Employee), New Jersey Fashionable Workplace that focus on customers receiving the best customer service from the worlds most fashionable online retailer. 5 of 5 stars Amazing company and very loyal co-workers Procurement Coordinator (Former Employee), Mahwah, NJ Pros: holiday/summer parties, company bbq's Cons: n/a My experience with Net-A-Porter was incredible, they are great people, a great company and really strive to make sure they take care of their employees. Training was done properly and exceeded expectations. 3 of 5 stars Good company with potential Receiving Coordinator (Current Employee), Mahwah, NJ A day at work starts with the truck and ends with organizing the goods In. I've learned a lot about receiving In a warehouse. Management could be better. I love my co-workers!The hardest part was losing co-workers The most enjoyable part was being with the guys I work with so much fun!

3 of 5 stars Transparent company built on entrepreneurial company vision. Sales and Customer Care Assistant Manager (Current Employee), Mahwah Pros: fashion forward, opportunity to interface with multiple departments, decent healthcare plan with vision coverage, fashion casual dress environment Cons: lack of growth and career development, spur of the moment meetings, resouces that are available, but not used efficiently People management and development was the key focus of the role. Coworkers are direct yet, friendly. The technology aspect of the company is still a work in progress regarding the structural side. 3 of 5 stars I am a team player and open to training Distribution Assistant (Former Employee), Long Isand City, NY Pros: loading packages and typing in isbn information into the systemCons: i strive to achieve to meet dead lines and get the job done I work in a large warehouse in Long Island City, New York. My day starts with unloading packages and loading packages from UPS and FedEx trucks. Inside the warehouse when necessary utilized the fork lift truck to move inventory various locations in the Warehouse. Input ISBN numbers for tracking into the data entry system. I am a easy going person, open to change. 3 of 5 stars Not for the long term NY office (Current Employee), New York, NY Pros: beautiful offices and product; decent discountCons: few advancement opportunities in ny office A good place to work as it looks good on your resume but few if any growth opportunities.

Inside View: Net-A-Porter Naomi Hewitt, Group HR Director of online luxury fashion giant The NET-A-PORTER Group Written by Imran Yusuf (http://www.businessbecause. com/resume/imran-yusuf) | Inside View on Top Jobs | Thursday 18th April 2013 13:43:00 GMT What's your remit as Group HR Director? My remit changes every three years or so. When you join a start-up, you wear about six different hats. A decade later, I still wear a couple of those hats, but generally it’s about helping support the growth of the business. I recruit for several different teams: it’s quite varied, with the technology team, the logistics team, obviously the fashion retail team. As well as recruitment, I look at other areas such as Organisational Capability, Group Communications and Reward. These days my work is strongly focused on organisational design and how we structure the business. We’re now in seven different time zones, so things are increasingly complicated. In previous years you've expanded your workforce at a rapid rate. Is that still the case? In the last year and a half our headcount has blossomed. And that’s because the business has grown. We’ve introduced new brands, so clearly we’ve recruited specifically for those. But half our head count is associated with volumes – levels of stock and number of sales. A lot of businesses like us outsource, i.e. to a third-party logistics firm, but we do all that ourselves. That's because the touchpoints you have with the customer when you’re a luxury service are so important – and we think we’re the only ones who can guarantee that level of service. How does someone impress you at interview? Gosh, that’s a tough question! I’ve been in recruiting for years and years, and the one thing I tell myself is not to go solely with gut, but let my head lead the decision. But one of the things that’s always critical is getting the cultural fit right. It’s also important that agendas are aligned, and people are working towards a common goal.You see that a lot when we have cross-functional projects, like our Karl Lagerfeld launch last year, which involved lots of complex functions. People in creative, logistics, technology came together – but fundamentally all were joined together because we have a strong group cultural fit.

How many Net-A-Porter garments do you have in your wardrobe? And do you have a favourite item? I’ve been here so long, I dread to think of how many I’ve got (and my husband might not want to read about it!), but my favourite is probably this Stella McCartney blue velvet tuxedo, which I wear in the office but which I can also sling over some jeans with heels - it’s very adaptable. But I’m also eyeing other stuff on the site. Any tips for what an MBA should wear at an interview? I think it’s possible to overthink this. It depends on which role you’re going for. Just looking out at our office, our buying team sit across from the technical team, which is a bunch of developers. I can’t tell you how different those two banks of people look – but there’s something special about that. But clearly if you’re applying for a product-related role then you have to demonstrate a passion for fashion. But an MBA would probably want to spread themselves more broadly. Obviously anyone who joins us is an ambassador for the company – but that doesn’t mean you have to be dressed head to toe in designer gear. What are some of the biggest commercial challenges you face in the online fashion sector? Well, really just maintaining trust with our customers and our brand. That’s absolutely critical. There are lots of people entering the market, but our three pillars remain paramount: our customers, brands and employees. Maintaining trust with them is critical. We do that through great service, a great product, and great content. Another challenge is to keep recruiting talent – that’s always crucial. We’ve heard that staff parties at Net-a-Porter are legendary, can you elaborate? We’d definitely like to think so! Everyone gets on the dance floor, and I certainly enjoy myself. We’re actually just about to start planning for our summer party today – looking forward to that one.

The Net-A-Porter Group Limited - Accounts History CSV Download (31 Jan 2001 - 31 Mar 2015) from Duedil

Images Cridet Natalie massenet at the net a porter group http://www.telegraph. co.uk/fashion/people/ natalie-massenetinspiring-parting-emailto-her-staff/

All photographs are by Pantling Studio. http://www. dezeen. com/2010/08/04/ net-a-porterlondon-store-bystudiofibre/

http://www.thedrum.com/ news/2015/05/22/netporter-creative-directorexplains-challengingdesign-process-socialshopping

https://cobbieyates.files.wordpress. com/2011/03/img_49821.jpg

Illustration by Clym Evernden http://www.ceftandcompany.com/wpcontent/uploads/2014/03/netaporternetabeauty-event-new-york-ceft.jpg

What the Net-A-Porter girls wear. Alys, Katie, Kim, Jane, Miranda and Rosemary wear velvet trousers. Photo: Joanna Paterson http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/columns/ sophie-deros%C3%A9e/TMG8781966/ What-the-Net-A-Porter-girls-wear.html

http://cdn2.thr.com/sites/default/files/ imagecache/thr_style_news_image/2015/05/ net_set_app.jpg

www.ynap.com

www.net-a-porter.com//media-kit.

http://trendsurvivor.com/wpcontent/uploads/2013/12/Net-aporter-box-Natalie-Massenet.jpg

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/ pix/2014/07/30/1406722728772_wps_3_ MUST_CREDIT_MUST_HYPER_LI.jpg

MA Design Management and Cultures Zihan Zhao