Net-a-porter case.docVIP

Case：Net-A-Porter’s Luxury eCommerce Strategy in China Fashion e-tailer Net-a-Porter is amping up(放大) its global appeal: three new versions of its website – in French, German, and Chinese – will join the English edition this month. But all eyes are on?Net-a-Porter’s Chinese website. Few major Western e-tailers have made a foray （尝试）into China’s online landscape, but?Net-a-Porter may have picked the perfect time. The luxury retail market in China is going through changes this year with fewer new store openings. E-commerce is expected to be the land of major opportunity and brands are allocating more resources to this space. The company has already tested the waters when it bought S last year and relaunched it as and introduced a Chinese-language version of the brand’s iPad app. Net-a-Porter has made it known that it wants more Asian customers – already one-third of Net-a-Porter’s clientele. It will add a new Hong Kong distribution center to reduce delivery time, an important feature for Chinese customers. Senior vice president of Net-a-Porter Adrienne Ma explained to the New York Times, “The primary reason for choosing to open a distribution center in Hong Kong is because it’s a free port with strong courier networks, which will allow us to improve on our existing shipping service time period by around one day.” Ma added that the company will soon offer same-day delivery service in Hong Kong and next-day shipping to major Australian cities. This third distribution center for the brand (with the others in New York and London), will offer a strong anchor to the Asia-Pacific branch of business. Unlike the other two locations, the Hong Kong facility will be staffed by 100 employees to fulfill orders, rather than an automated system, due to spatial constraints. As Net-a-Porter continues to expand, its biggest rival remains Lane Crawford, who has been orchestrating online shopping in China for eighteen months. Lane Crawford benefits from a well-integrated business m