Confessions of a Shopaholic

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To go online, to “surf the net”, to “log on” whatever way you look at it, the internet is engrained in our daily routine. Some check the weather on BBC.com before they head to work, others chat to their friends across oceans whilst sitting on a train, others order groceries on their lunch break to be delivered just in time for supper. Me, well I do all of the above, plus, I shop. Shop not just for groceries, but also for gifts, for shoes and for clothes. Yes, I’m a closet shopaholic.

Online shopping has gone mainstream. Prior to 2000, woman would go into a retail store for personal service, to touch, feel and try the garment or shoes on and the immediacy of the purchase, walking out the door with a bag full of tissue wrapped goods. The question was “how could you trust that something would fit right if you bought it online?” And “If I buy something, I want it now”.

Now you wouldn’t have expected a website selling clothing, shoes and accessories in the hundreds to thousands of pounds to do well. Especially when these designer goods are somewhat seen as a status symbol and the bag it comes in, is waved around on the high street like its worth more than the products inside, but it did. Since Net-a-Porter launched in June 2000, the retail business has changed. It created a boom in the retail sector that others scrambling to emulate, but that Net-a-Porter continued to overtake. People were buying luxury goods online in droves with the average shop being £500. But why?

It’s a combination of talented founder Natalie Massenet, with her vision and dream, and the editorial style of the website, developed for the lowest common denominator. It’s like reading your favourite glossy fashion mag, with looks straight of the runway that you can view, click and buy in a flash. And what time poor girl wouldn’t like to buy that new season skirt buy Stella McCartney whilst on her lunch break in Canary Warf?

Net-a-Porter has revolutionized the way woman shop. Our screens are now used to “window shop.” Its iPad App “The Edit”, updated weekly and created in a magazine format, lets you flick through the “pages” and should something take your fancy, tap, add to bag and buy. Next thing you know your credit card has been charged, your purchase on its way and you haven’t even finished breakfast.

Who wouldn’t in this day and age, when we spend more time at work than at home and our weekends are full of chores, catching up with much missed friends or for some, even more work, shop this way? Who has time to go head to head with a group of teenagers clogging the sidewalk on the nearest high street? Not me. That pair of earrings you know your best friend would love can be bought on the bus to work, the shoes you first noticed in Vogue are purchased whilst waiting for your latte and the cuff links you know would go so well with his new suit, well they can be bought whilst eating lunch. All with the guarantee that if they don’t fit, don’t work or just aren’t right, are completely returnable and hey, they will even come and pick them up for you. No need to wait in line at the post office.

Today, we aren’t afraid to shop online, it’s easy; it’s fast and websites like Net-a-Porter make online shopping glamorous (and fun).

Now if you’ll excuse me, I think a pair of Louboutin heels are calling my name. It’s time to go shopping.

By Victoria King, Senior Account Manager

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