A pioneer in online retail branches out

When Carmen Busquets first started thinking about selling luxury goods on the Internet, it was a daring idea. During the 1990s, couture houses like Chanel were more interested in investing in swanky real estate to open retail stores, while designers like Jean Paul Gaultier were presenting their ideas to the masses by hanging outrageous clothes on pop stars like Madonna. But Busquets, who has a varied background in business and retailing, said she saw in 1997 that "life was going to start becoming faster" with the growth of the Internet as a means of communication. In June 2000, Busquets became a co-founder of Net-a-porter, an online shopping site, by buying a 10 percent share in the company. The idea for Net-a-porter came from Natalie Massenet, a former fashion editor, who put up £200,000, or about $398,000 at current... [read full story]