Australia’s in fashion for global online retailer Net-a-Porter

When you’re global buying director for one of the largest online retailers, accumulating frequent-flyer points is part of the job.

Elizabeth von der Goltz, the global buying director for Net-a-Porter. Picture: John Feder.

When you’re the global buying director of one of the world’s largest online retailers, accumulating frequent-flyer points is part of the job.

This month, Net-a-Porter’s Elizabeth von der Goltz will travel from her London base to New York (twice), Milan (twice) and has come for the first time to Sydney. In fact, it’s her first time in Australia.

“I travel a lot,” she says with a laugh. “Because we’re global we need to be everywhere.”

Her buyer’s eye has been taking in the Australian aesthetic at close range during her five-day stay.

“You can see a sense of style that’s very clear here — in the architecture, the restaurants, the interior design, the food. Which is interesting, because then you can see that translate into fashion. There is either this cool, casual vibe, or it’s very feminine.”

It might be von der Goltz’s first taste of Australia — she started with the brand one-and-a-half years ago — but the Net-a-Porter team has been coming for a number of years, for a very good reason: “Our Australian customers are really engaged; they really love fashion.”

That would be an understatement. The Australian customer base is still in the top five markets globally for the site. There are 2.4 purchases made from Australia every 10 minutes: “That’s pretty often.”

What she calls the “power brands” — top luxury labels including Gucci, Balmain and Balenciaga — sell well here, but that’s the same in every market. More particular to the Australian market are sales across denim, casual and contemporary — designer labels, but not luxury — due to the more relaxed lifestyle here.

“Shoes are one of the top-selling categories, which is really great. I always think that’s a really emotional fashion piece.”

For the Hong Kong-raised Von der Goltz, who spent 20 years in New York working first for Barney’s and then Bergdorf Goodman for 16 years, the reason for our hunger for online shopping still stems from what we can’t buy on the ground.

“Now that I’m here and I’ve walked the stores and seen how the shops are, you see the choice is a little bit more limited (than internationally). And the neighbourhoods are quite spread out as well. (Online) you’re getting to see and discover more brands than you would if you walked into one of the multibrand stores here.”

But as well as targeting our customers, Net-a-Porter has also returned the favour, signing up over 40 brands from Australia and New Zealand, including beauty brands. Their appeal lies in the general fashion mood of the moment, which is less formal, more relaxed.

“People are not wanting to wear over-the-top big-name gowns when they go out. They want to look different, they want to look fun and a little bit low-key, and I think a lot of Australian brands tap into that.”

While von der Goltz was in Sydney with other members of the Net-a-Porter team and a handful of international designers to meet with media and a few EIPs — Extremely Important People in Net parlance — she was also taking time out to meet with new brands here.

She concedes that for emerging brands, there is a responsibility to help them grow, as an order of the size they place can be a burden if they are not prepared.

“It’s actually quite a big responsibility, so we need to help them. To bring someone on and be buying 10,000 items, brands often have to hire new people just to produce our orders, because we have three warehouses (in the UK, US and Hong Kong). We have to help these brands evolve and develop more because otherwise it’s over and that company may go under.”

She cites an example of one retail relationship, with Brooklyn-based jewellery label Catbird. “We’re their only wholesale partner. They had to build a production facility just for our orders — and they outgrew it so they’ve just built a brand new facility just for us. And they still can’t produce fast enough.”

A self-confessed jewellery lover, von der Goltz says fine jewellery is a category that is growing exponentially. Just a handful of years ago, the notion of buying your diamonds and pearls online might have rankled, but not now. “It’s amazing. We are selling things in the six figures now. For us I think it’s about a level of trust that we’ve built over time. You’re not just going to go to some website and order something that’s $100,000 and think, I’m just going to pay these people and never see (the jewellery arrive).”

Service and experience are a high priority for all retailers today, and for Net-a-Porter most especially when catering to its EIPs. While the company never comments on customer spends or market value, a report from Women’s Wear Daily last year said that “EIP customers account for 2 per cent of the customer base at Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter, and generate 40 per cent of sales”; a story in the New York Post from 2016 speculated that EIPs spend upwards of $US70,000 a year.

Von der Goltz will say of their EIPs that “their spend with us ­really grows significantly year on year — they’re super loyal”.

The customer experience that breeds such loyalty might start with the website, but goes well beyond the retail framework.

The site has been hosting “style suites” — where customers can come and browse and try on key pieces from the new season — and EIPs are treated to other offline events.