Mytheresa’s acquisition of Yoox Net-a-Porter (YNAP) is set to close on 23 April, which means the newly-formed parent company LuxExperience is on its way to becoming the biggest player in luxury e-commerce.
In recent years, Mytheresa has consistently outperformed the struggling multi-brand retail and e-commerce market, driven by a tight mix of ultra-high-end brands, with ultra-high-end customer service to match (think far-flung physical activations replete with Michelin dinners, luxe accommodation and world-class performers). This, coupled with careful cost control, has propelled Mytheresa to the top.
YNAP, meanwhile, has struggled under Richemont ownership, which acquired the company in 2018 (analysts expect it has been loss-making since then). Farfetch’s planned 2022 acquisition of the retailer fell through in 2023 when Farfetch itself narrowly escaped bankruptcy with its own acquisition by Korean e-commerce giant Coupang, leaving the YNAP deal dead in the water.
In October 2024, Mytheresa swooped in. Now, it’s tasked with a revamp.
“Net-a-Porter was the original disruptor in the luxury fashion space, once embodying the essence of a premier luxury platform,” says Jessica Ramirez, co-founder of advisory firm The Consumer Collective, pointing to the site’s curated assortment and thoughtful, editorialised merchandising. Over time, and with the appearance of competing platforms (like Mytheresa), this dominance has faded, she says. “Reviving a modern version of that original essence should now be the top priority.”
Mytheresa has been focused on fortifying its own business in order to position itself to take on the YNAP task. “The biggest priority is ensuring that Mytheresa runs like clockwork because once we are in the position to manage YNAP, this will take a lot of attention and hard and swift work, so we want to know that Mytheresa is in good shape while we do this,” CEO Michael Kliger told Vogue Business ahead of Mytheresa’s second-quarter earnings call in February – before the final regulatory approval was granted. That quarter, Mytheresa’s net sales grew 13.4 per cent. Mytheresa declined to comment further until the deal closes.
Investors are optimistic: Mytheresa’s share price has tripled since the October announcement. Following a March meeting with Kliger and CFO Martin Beer, TD Cowen upgraded its Mytheresa shares to buy. “We have increased confidence around potential near-term synergies with the YNAP integration,” senior retail analyst and managing director Oliver Chen said in a March note following the acquisition announcement.
Stay laser-focused
Turning the YNAP brands around must be a priority, experts agree – but it can’t become a distraction. Because Mythersa has achieved such a laser focus on both product and customer, the company is well positioned to prioritise and refocus the YNAP assortment, Burke says – so long as Mytheresa’s dedicated teams maintain and grow its own momentum.
Mytheresa North America president Heather Kaminetsky’s appointment as CEO of Net-a-Porter signals that this prioritisation is the plan. “This says to me that Net-a-Porter will be a priority for the new entity,” Burke says. “With Mytheresa running smoothly and posting great financials (for the current climate), the focus must be on bringing Net-a-Porter in line and into profitability.”
This is particularly key in the current operating environment, which is more volatile than usual, Ramirez adds. “In a climate like today, especially being a public company, you want to be able to [retain] allure and show that you are working on the brand you acquired – that it isn’t going to drag down your core business that has been doing well.”
Differentiate the Porters
The key will be to differentiate both Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter from Mytheresa, experts agree. “These services will need to be differentiated so that they don’t cannibalise each other,” Burke says.
In the 11 April announcement of the company’s new leadership team, Kliger said that “the strong store brand management teams for Mytheresa, Net-a-Porter, Mr Porter, Yoox and The Outnet will create individual brand identities and a differentiated, yet complementary, multi-brand luxury offering for customers”.
Bernstein luxury goods analyst Luca Solca is still wary of how Mytheresa will achieve this differentiation. “When we look at Net-a-Porter today, we think it very much resembles Mytheresa in the eyes of consumers,” he says. “We are still wondering how management will find different roles for the two brands.”
In Burke’s view, Net-a-Porter should skew less high-end than its new ultra-luxury bedfellow. The company needs to refocus on who its desired and targeted customer is, he says. “They have gotten a bit too broad.” This is where Mytheresa’s expertise comes in: “Mytheresa has done this so well, so they will definitely borrow from that playbook.”
Burke expects that Mytheresa will reposition Net-a-Porter as a broader e-commerce site that appeals to a wider range of tastes and price points via a mix of aspirational and approachable luxury and contemporary products and brands. “This could leave Mytheresa as the premium property of the group, catering to the same HNWIs [high-networth individuals] that it currently serves,” he says.
This won’t require any major changes, Chen says, noting that Mytheresa already caters to top luxury customers focused on high-end, known luxury brands – whereas Net-a-Porter customers are younger, more aspirational and look for fashion newness. In his March note, he flagged that there is currently approximately 30 per cent overlap between the two sites’ brands; and that, within these brands, they only share about 50 per cent of SKUs.
Nail off-price
Mytheresa plans to separate operations for YNAP’s off-price businesses, Yoox and The Outnet. This is a smart move, Burke says.
In an October press briefing, Kliger confirmed that there are no plans to shut down the off-price business. “Our intention is that the off-price business is separated from the luxury division. We believe one of the root causes of the struggles and problems has been high complexity,” he said. “By separating it from the luxury division, we create a much leaner and simpler operating model that allows for higher growth and higher profitability.”
The off-price segment needs to broaden its competitive lens, Ramirez says. “It’s not just other off-price retailers posing a threat, but increasingly, luxury resale platforms,” she says, pointing to players like The RealReal and Vestiaire Collective. “[They] are capturing market share by offering curated assortments of on-trend, high-demand brands at accessible prices – all within an engaging, elevated user experience,” she says. “For The Outnet to remain relevant and competitive, a comprehensive brand and experience overhaul is essential.”
In Burke’s view, LuxExperience’s off-price business could even borrow from these sustainability-focused models. “Creating more sustainability and adding to the circular economy should be a priority for this new group and these off-price businesses can be utilised to highlight new initiatives in this space,” he says.
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