Case Study: NET‑A‑PORTER achieves award‑winning global sales growth and affiliate performance with Rakuten Marketing

Net-A-Porter - Customer Case Study

NET‑A‑PORTER, the luxury fashion retailer, partnered with Rakuten Advertising to address a rapidly changing affiliate landscape that threatened global performance. With goals to grow net sales year‑on‑year, reduce reliance on lower‑funnel publishers, attract higher‑value customers, diversify publisher types, and expand beyond core UK and US markets (notably into China), the teams faced challenges from major publisher closures and search algorithm and tax changes that reduced visibility and demand.

Rakuten and NET‑A‑PORTER implemented a reactive, always‑on strategy that diversified the affiliate base—adding long‑tail and non‑traditional partners (including AMEX Korea), running influencer campaigns and events, and employing strategic discounting—while preserving brand exclusivity. The approach delivered significant gains across revenue, orders, traffic, average order value and new customer acquisition, and earned the partnership the International Performance Marketing Award for Best Managed Global Affiliate Programme in 2018.

Net-A-Porter