Notonthehighstreet.com’s chief financial officer David Phillips says that “the old-fashioned way can be the most profitable” for pureplay retailers.

Phillips said that the lifetime value of a customer can be largely determined by “the device and channel” that they browse and purchase on.

“Paid search is important but the product a shopper buys and basket size will determine whether they’ll come back to you,” he said.

Phillips said that a shopper that buys from the online marketplace via direct mail during the Christmas period is “stickier and worth more” than the average customer.

“We launched a range of 20 products from concept to product in under four days this Christmas period and we want to get that even shorter”

David Phillips

“The old-fashioned way can be the most profitable,” he added.

Despite this, Phillips stressed that Notonthehighstreet.com was focused on technological and supply chain innovations to drive its business forward.

The online marketplace has been “investigating” machine learning and AI technology has “used chatbot technology over the last 12 months.”

The pureplay etailer is also driving efficiencies in its supply chain to ensure it can be as reactive to consumer trends as possible.

“Our lead time to turn design and trend into product is really short,” said Phillips.

“We launched a range of 20 products from concept to product in under four days this Christmas period and we want to get that even shorter.”

While mobile is the fastest growing sales channel for Notonthehighstreet.com, Phillips said that it was important not to view these sales in a vacuum as 47% of the business’ mobile purchases started on a different device.