At a dinner last year for 25 Net-a-Porter customers at the online luxury retailer's London headquarters, Chief Executive Heather Kaminetsky asked a simple question: How can we do better?

It's something she has been asking every chance she gets since taking the helm in April 2025 with the marching orders to turn around the struggling company.

Customers have had a lot to say.

Net-a-Porter pioneered selling designer clothes and accessories online when it was founded in 2000. But it struggled after Swiss watch and jewelry conglomerate Richemont bought a majority stake in 2010. Customers complained of inconsistent service, lost packages and delayed returns. The retailer tried to appeal to a broader swath of aspirational shoppers with less expensive items and deeper discounts, further alienating its high-end clientele.

As sales shrunk and losses piled up, Richemont looked for a buyer. It sold Net-a-Porter, plus a men's site called Mr. Porter and another online retailer Yoox, to the parent of Mytheresa, which had cracked the code of selling luxury online. Richemont subsidized the purchase by loading the deal with cash and credit in exchange for roughly a third of the shares of the holding company, now called LuxExperience.

It installed Kaminetsky, Mytheresa's North American president, to lead Net-a-Porter. The bet was that it could return to profitability by restoring its fashion authority and making its clients feel like they were part of an exclusive club.

Kaminetsky had come up through luxury, known for wooing customers in marketing jobs at Barneys New York and Net-a-Porter more than a decade ago.

"There was an opportunity to win back customers who had lapsed over the course of many years," said Kaminetsky, who is 47 years old. To do that, she realized she first needed to talk to these women.

She zeroed in on Net-a-Porter's top customers. About 4% of its shoppers account for almost half its sales.

She sent thousands of emails to clients introducing herself and asking for feedback. She invited customers for fireside chats with Net-a-Porter employees. She increased the number of designer events, hosting more in the past year than Net-a-Porter did in the prior three years combined. At one with Burberry, guests could purchase and customize vintage trench coats. At another with Carolina Herrera, guests were transported by luxury train to an estate in the British countryside for dinner in a vineyard.

Other luxury retailers court their top customers with attention and exclusive access. A challenge with this strategy is that retailers need to keep upping the ante to come up with distinctive perks, and it is competitive.

At every event, Kaminetsky handed out her contact information in case shoppers wanted to follow up. She got an earful.

Customers wanted more personalized service from their personal shoppers. They wanted a greater selection of both established brands and newer labels. They wanted a more sophisticated package-tracking system and streamlined returns process. The delivery drivers should wear snappier uniforms, they said.

Some ideas were rejected as impractical, like the shopper who suggested Net-a-Porter deliver packages by private jet. But Kaminetsky has adopted many other suggestions.

Return labels now arrive in the box and all customers have to do is paste them on the package. No need for any forms or printing.

Net-a-Porter delivery drivers now wear uniforms from Mr. Porter. Before they could wear any dark-colored clothing.

Kaminetsky expanded same-day delivery to more locations, including the Jersey Shore, after shoppers who summered there asked why the service was available in the Hamptons but not the Shore. She said she received a barrage of requests from women who said, "Why don't you like the Shore?"

Kaminetsky likes to talk as if she's a personal shopper. When a customer told her she wanted a pair of Khaite's sold-out, half-calf leopard pants, she reached out to her counterpart and the Khaite CEO made it happen. The brand made a single pair just for the customer, Khaite confirms.

Net-a-Porter is introducing a live-map tracking system that lets customers see the location of their parcels, similar to ordering an Uber.

It has reintroduced brands such as Comme des Garçons and added new labels like Willy Chavarria. But it's still missing some prominent names such as Prada and Celine. Kaminetsky said adding more brands is a priority.

The moves have helped Net-a-Porter turn a financial corner. In the quarter that ended June 30, sales increased 4.3%, with the U.S. up more than 13%, compared with a year earlier. Profits grew to 7.4 million euros, or $8.5 million, up from 1 million euros, or $1.2 million the prior year. Top customers spent on average 9.4% more during the quarter than they did during the same period a year ago.

The average order value increased 9% over the past 12 months to 885 euros, or $1,016. That is a key measure for making money in online retailing; it costs roughly the same to ship $100 worth of clothing as it does $1,000. The results include the Mr. Porter men's division.

"This is a company that was struggling and they asked customers what the problems were," said Michael Kliger, LuxExperience's chief executive. "Our customers are highly professional. They are bankers, lawyers and marketing executives. These are smart women. Where else can you find such great advice?"

Stumbles by rivals have thinned the competition. Farfetch narrowly avoided collapsing before it was sold to a South Korean company in 2024. Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus are trying to repair relationships with customers and suppliers after emerging from bankruptcy in June.

Earlier this month, Kaminetsky invited top shopper Sarah Hayden to speak at an employee town hall. The 43-year-old technology executive from London talked about where she thought Net-a-Porter was succeeding and some areas for improvement.

Hayden shared examples of how the personal-shopping service has stepped up. When a bandeau top she had ordered failed to arrive before a recent trip to Spain, her personal shopper had the item rushed to her hotel. Another time, her personal shopper asked Parisian jewelry designer Yvonne Leone to make a ring to fit her finger.

Hayden also said she wished Net-a-Porter had a physical space where she could try on clothes. And she wants to see it carry more brands.

Overall, though, Hayden said in an interview, the company has made big strides.

"I used to shop at a lot of places, but in the last year or so, I shop with Net-a-Porter almost exclusively," she said.