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Growing Business Awards: and some MORE winners!

by Catherine Woods - Thursday, 27th November 2008 - - Business comment

In the Customer Excellence category, one company stood out, according to co-host William Hague.

Gerry Ford, of Caffe Nero fame, doesn’t dilly-dally… the winner is NET-A-PORTER.COM!!!

It’s the world’s premier luxury online fashion retailer with a site currently viewed by more than 1.8 million women per month. Net-a-Porter’s website, presented in the style of a fashion magazine, offers the international fashion-savvy customer all the latest, hottest looks and all the world’s cutting-edge labels via worldwide express delivery.

And that means a lot of demanding customers. (After all, many of them will be spending up to £10,000 per year on designer clothes.) So the constant improvement of customer service is right at the top of the priority list.

This year has been no exception. A global customer care manager has been appointed; local language customer service teams now dispense fashion advice in a variety of languages; more than 1.5 million e-mails are now sent every week including a “what’s new” e-mail that is tailored to the individual subscriber’s product, category and designer preferences; a dedicated area within the Virgin Upper Class lounge at Heathrow with an on-site personal shopper has been created.

The results? For the financial year to January 2008, turnover grew from £37m to £55m. The number of new Net-a-Porter customers each month currently averages 6,500 compared to last year’s 3,500.

Chief operating officer accepts the award, telling us it’s “really very thrilling”. He also thanks all the ladies in the room for their support!

BUSINESS NEWS >>

Businesses to run in a recession: part three

By Rebecca Burn-Callander - July 02, 2009 4:43pm GMT

Even in a recession, a good entrepreneur is always on the look-out for the next hot spot. Don’t wait around for the upturn. These are the businesses you want to be in now.

Access takes another step towards sales target

By Catherine Woods - July 02, 2009 4:33pm GMT

Access founder Alistair O’Reilly has embarked on a “brand elevation” exercise as he aims to grow turnover at his consulting and software company to £100m.

Tech entrepreneur: "The banks won't lend you an umbrella when it rains"

By Rebecca Burn-Callander - July 02, 2009 4:22pm GMT

At a roundtable hosted by Dell this morning, Real Business heard three technology entrepreneurs talk about the challenges of growing a business during the recession. People aren't the problem, they say. It's the mindset of banks and other financial institutions that needs to change if we're to come out of recession.

Government fund provides a "timely injection of capital"

By Catherine Woods - July 02, 2009 4:06pm GMT

Octopus Ventures, which invests in entrepreneurial businesses, has welcomed the governments’ proposed £1bn innovation fund, saying it will support entrepreneurialism.

Businesses confident about surviving recession

By Catherine Woods - July 02, 2009 2:36pm GMT

Most mid-size businesses believe they will survive the recession and most believe the downturn will end during the next 12 to 24 months.

Brochures on Saving and investing

BUSINESS COMMENT >>

Sir Alan Sugar: "You're hired!"

By Rebecca Burn-Callander - July 01, 2009 1:12pm GMT

Great piece by The Telegraph's Richard Tyler today about the confirmed appointment of Sir Alan Sugar to the post of enterprise tsar. "A tentative date of July 20th has been pencilled in for his hairiness to don the rabbit fur," he says.

Pre-stained underwear: the next big thing?

By Rebecca Burn-Callander - June 22, 2009 2:54pm GMT

That's right. "Pre-stained". Suspend your disbelief for a moment. Canadian entrepreneur Philip Watson founded Easy Tiger Corp to peddle underwear that has been - ahem - ready-soiled, shall we say. And he reckons these nasty knickers will be a surefire hit with "the dudes".

It can only be... the Friday Funnies

By Rebecca Burn-Callander - June 12, 2009 12:16pm GMT

As swine flu hits the headlines for the second time, the swine flu jokes are just pouring in! Laugh till you oink, readers.

Jokes. Jokes. Jokes.

By Rebecca Burn-Callander - June 05, 2009 12:14pm GMT

Further to popular demand, this week we're devoting a whole section of our jokes blog to our hapless prime minister, Gordon Brown.

Cassetteboy does The Apprentice

By Rebecca Burn-Callander - June 01, 2009 2:34pm GMT

Hats off to Broadbean MD and Real Business columnist Dan McGuire for scouting this out. An even darker side to Sir Alan Sugar is revealed in this daft mash-up.

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