Executive Vice-President, Sales, Marketing and Creative of THEOUTNET.COM talks exclusively to a&e world.
In April 2009, the Outnet launched as the previous-season sister site to Net-a-porter. It has quickly established itself as the chic online destination for the global, style-conscious shopper, offering over 350 designers at up to 75 per cent off. They buy 90 per cent of stock from partnering big brands such as Balmain, Chloé and Isabel Marant, to name a few, and have over 2.5 million unique visitors each month. That is quite an achievement and a global success. They ship to 170 countries; their top spots are: US, UK, France, Germany, the Middle East region, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia and they offer customer care in 16 languages.
Andres Sosa, originally from Venezuela, came on board as Director of Global Sales and Marketing in September 2013. He later became Executive Vice-President, Sales, Marketing and Creative in 2015. Sosa is a leader in digital strategy and retail marketing with 20 years experience in the business. a&e had an exclusive interview with the man himself during his recent visit to Dubai.
Tell us about you?
I’m from Venezuela. I’ve worked in a communication advertising agency in Venezuela. We had headquarters in London, and in 2000 I was the youngest person sent to London. I moved for a year and after I decided to stay and join the agency side. I had a global role so I travelled a lot. I did a lot of corporate work HSBC and British American Tobacco. Halfway through my time in the agency, my CEO and I were bored and we asked ourselves what we really loved and had passion for. It was luxury and retail. We decided to get into this arena. I did a project with Prince Charles in this field and we won Chanel, Harvey Nichols and Liberty London. We started getting a nice set of clients in the luxury and retail world. From there, I moved to the Outnet.
How has it developed since you started?
We’ve always been a global business. By the time I joined we were shipping to 170 markets and the teams were doing great. We weren’t tailoring to each of the market and that is a passion of mine – to understand what makes a customer tick. I like to know where they are shopping and where they are not shopping. It’s still the same offering but we are making the experience a lot easier. That was one of the big changes. We are able to see each market as an individual market and really understand our customer.
Do you like to travel?
I keep travelling. I’m in the Middle East now, then New York, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, London, Miami and LA. I’m back-to-back. I love travel. It is one of the perks. It’s good to meet people and get a better understanding of our customer. Our customers are a good source of insight. They always tell us things. I get to stay in beautiful places and tick places to visit off my bucket list.
What is a normal day like for you?
Basically, I oversee PR, creative, sales, marketing, e-commerce and product merchandising. It’s important to keep aware what everyone is doing. A day for me could be full of meetings. I wake up early, I’m quite structured and I don’t like surprise meetings. I want to know things in advanced. I like to know where I am going, what the meeting is for and what are we aiming to achieve. I have to go on photoshoots too. Last week we were on a photoshoot for the look book of Iris and Ink. I let the team get on with things, but I like to drop in and see what is happening. We could be planning a campaign or working out how we will do holiday season. We plan ahead – from six months to a year. I power through it all with a coconut latte!
What makes The Outnet so special and innovative?
Our brand offering. We have over 350 brands. We are very creative. It would be easy to grab any product and put it on the site, but we don’t do that. We focus on the decoration of each brand and the product that goes up. We have our own buying team and 90 per cent of our stock comes from the buying team based in New York and London. We buy directly from the brands and that allows us to build relationships with them and create exclusives, unlike other brands. Being true to the DNA of the brand is content. We see it as everything. It could be a story we write, the message we have on social, video content we do and also the way the product is updated. We have four uploads a week.
We also pride ourselves for our service. We offer luxury service in a discount world. It happens to be 70 per cent off and we have service express – shipping worldwide and same day delivery in London and New York, Connecticut and the Hamptons. We cater for 16 languages so you can email us and pick up the phone and just call.
Then there is innovation – we are always working on this with the campaigns we do. We recently launched our android app. We have an IOS app as well. We are constantly looking at what’s new, not only from a product point of view but from a technology angle too.
What key brands do you have?
Alexander Wang, Valentino, Victoria Beckham, Roberto Cavalli and Tom Ford, to name a few. There are also contemporary brands. Iris and Ink is our own private label that we launched nine seasons ago. Our stylist team realised we had a gap in essentials. We were looking to style a Dolce & Gabbana jacket with something. It needed a cashmere jumper, for the look, or stretch leather leggings. We thought if we have a gap in our wardrobe styling I’m sure the customer had the same problem. That is how it happened. We still do great essentials with a twist, but we also have leather goods, accessories and shoes. We now have directional pieces as well. It’s now not necessarily fashion forward pieces but not just essentials.
Any new collaborations?
Jérôme Dreyfuss have nine exclusive styles. Some he designed for us and some are his favourite styles. Last summer, we had a full season of exclusives. We worked with Matthew Williamson, Alexis, Saloni and Melissa Odabash. They did an exclusive with us to keep our customers going through summer. Now we are working on the holiday launch. We have cashmere Christmas jumpers by Chinti and Parker. What makes us different is that we have a special relationship with brands and we can come up with an exclusive.
Any particular campaign that you loved working on?
From an innovation point of view, Sergio the shoe hunter. We sent a sausage dog with a camera to London Fashion Week. During fashion week, people were talking about future trends and we are a previous season retailer, so Sergio went out on a mission to sniff what shoes people were wearing. We would curate the shoes that were seen that day depending on what Sergio noticed. It was a buzz on social media. Sergio became a global success in places like France, Korea, Japan and US. Sergio was a big campaign and he keeps winning awards and getting short listed.
Also, we worked on a charity initiative with Victoria Beckham two years ago. She donated 641 items from her wardrobe to charity called mothers2mothers. They prevent mothers who are HIV to pass it on to their babies whilst in the womb and lactating. They are based in South Africa but they are extending to other markets. Victoria came across the charity and wanted to do something for them. That was a great project; we had a great product and Victoria as an ambassador.
How important is social media?
It’s very important. Brands tend to see (not all the brands) social media as one channel. We don’t see it that way because in social media there are different channels and within these channels there are reasons why a person or concept is on that channel – you need to be relevant to that moment. Pinterest is good for inspiration, not to shop; Twitter is about conversation; Facebook is inspirational but more commercial and Instagram is inspirational. Social lets us connect with customers and non customers and seek inspiration. Our customer is a savvy woman and she knows her brands. It’s her take on fashion so we focus on style. She’s looking for inspiration. It also allows us to connect with customers to show what we are doing at events and to be able to share and showcase these events to a global audience. We can see how different customers all over the world are interacting with the brand. We have a great group of influencers that we work with too.
How important is your trip here in the Middle East?
It’s my first time here with the Outnet. The Middle East is our top 10 market. The growth has been mostly organic. We have had a lot of presence with the media but it is the first time in three years we are here. This visit helps us understand the market, meet our customers, understand their shopping needs and what they love about us. That is the only way we will not only understand their needs but give them what they want. The Middle East customer knows her brands. She doesn’t come to us to be educated she has her own style and already knows how to put a look together. For us it is a good market.
What does luxury mean to you?
Luxury on its own, without style, doesn’t come together. For me, it is lifestyle and the moments that you treasure. I’m an eater, I love to eat beautiful food or waking up to a great view and a stunning sunrise.
Goals in next 5 years?
The merger has opened new opportunities including new markets. We are going deeper into the markets that we are already in. We want to understand our customer, make sure we are as relevant as possible, know who our customer is and how we can actually help. Regarding sales, 50 per cent or more come from mobiles. We launched the android app so we are really giving people the best experience possible. We have a beautiful selection of brands and there are always new brands that we are working on.
Do you have a motto?
Always be nice to people and treat them well. Make sure you treat people the way you want to be treated. In life, it is all about relationships, getting to know people and working with them. I want people to work with me and my team. That is a great position to be in.
