Net-a-Porter has implemented both modern technology and a back-to-basics strategy to reach out to its worldwide audience, creating multiple platforms to synchronise the experience of the huge retailer.
February 2014 will 'seduce, satisfy and serve' you - surprisingly, the verbs promised by no male. Prepare to meet Porter, a clean-cut, 300-page publication and an anticipated addition to Natalie Massenet's, founder, of Net-A-Porter's growing narrative. Yes, you will be seduced by the new magazine six times a year, on a subscription basis, wherever you are in the world, including on your mobile phone.
Lucy Yeomans, Edior in Chief, describes the slick title as possessing 'strength, wit, elegance and intelligence' - much like its modern female reader. Yeomans also proposes that the dropping of the original name conveys 'a timelessness to it that feels as if it could have existed for decades,' which appeals highly to the notion of classic, honoured style.
The magazine's fitting launch foregrounds existing publications of Net-a-Porter, such as the tablet app-compatible web magazine, born in 2010, and a low-key magazine for a small audience of buyers and businesses. However, aimed at 'and about women with great style,' the real, solid pages of Porter will exude a blend of an urbane, classic novelty.
Perhaps Net-a-Porter's future page-turner was inevitable from the start, considering Natalie Massenet's scripturient background, beginning as a fashion news writer at WWD (Women's Wear Daily), before taking over London at Tatler and landing a title as Fashion Director at a magazine. Massenet's naturally appointed choices also have suspiciously solid writing histories, including a Hearst Corp Publishing Director Tess Macleod Smith and editor of Harper's Bazaar U.K. Lucy Yeomans. As Mark Sebba, Chief Executive Officer, stated in the London conference, the website was seen as 'a magazine that sold clothes' from the start.
Seeing an opportunity in the written word, Lagardère, the French publisher of Elle, are launching Elle Man this month, while designer Elie Saab and French writer Janie Samet pen out the story of 'Elie Saab' available from 15 November. Amidst all the portable technology employed by the e-commerce, prevails, elegantly, a market for accessing fashion news the trusty traditional way. In publishing we trust.
As well as targeting a readership, the privileged shoppers of Net-a-Porter among the monthly 6-billion experienced the company's original idea of The Window Shop. The pop-up store that enabled the public to use an exclusive app on their Smartphone or iPad 2 to win prizes pictured on the display was created to celebrate Fashion Night Out.
Similarly, going digital is NY's Saks Incorporated's Fifth Avenue store, as it launched an online store yesterday, saksoff5th.com.
However, the transition from a digital world to a real one is not always successful. As well as pointing out the obvious implications of technological inferiorities when a digital company builds a walk-in store, such as unsuccessful kiosks, Adam Silverman of Forrester, epitomizing a major U.S. retailer with this strategy, states that 'While the layout did appear to be more welcoming, the dark interactive display indicated a lack of commitment to execution.' Not everyone can pull-off a minimalist, robot-run environment.
Taking in consideration Net-a-Porter's exciting magazine launch, the fruition and delight of holding a physical outcome of intense mental workouts at the writing desk, shelving the research into context and endless trips to the coffee machine will never get old, while readers revel in turning the glossy pages, highlighting the latest trends, page-marking their favourite looks and creating inspiring cut-outs. The published magazine is not only the product of history - a puzzle put together to be taken at face-value - but a resource for further creations.
As the market of the fashion industry has different tastes in style, fashion is accessible in different ways - whether it is flocking to the nearest shopping centre, efficiently scrolling through an App on the metro or comfortably turning the pages accompanied by a cup of tea.
Words by Nicole Stevenson for chloédigital