There is a new luxury goods giant in town. With its acquisition of Yoox Net-a-Porter from Richemont now complete, Mytheresa is no longer just a fast-growing e-commerce player with a tightly curated model; it is the lead architect of one of the most ambitious consolidation efforts in the luxury e-commerce market. The headline-making transaction brings Yoox Net-a-Porter (“YNAP”)’s Net-a-Porter, Mr. Porter, Yoox, and The Outnet under the umbrella of Mytheresa’s newly created holding company, LuxExperience B.V., forming a multi-brand group that is slated to dominate the market in terms of both scale and selectivity.
Now that the dust has settled following the unconditional merger control clearance from the European Commission, which gave the green light to the deal that closed late last month, the key question at play is whether LuxExperience can actually integrate and revitalize the legacy assets that it has acquired while also preserving its own momentum and profitability in its quest to build the largest multi-brand luxury goods platform.
To some extent, the chips appear to be stacked against LuxExperience. The global luxury industry is facing uneven demand, especially in Greater China, and many of its e-commerce peers have either faltered or are still recovering from the overspending and over-expansion of the post-pandemic period. In a market that is currently far from favorable, customer acquisition costs remain elevated and consumer loyalty is fragile.
Against that background, integrating an underperforming business like YNAP into its portfolio could amplify risk for LuxExperience’s underlying Mytheresa brand – especially if the operational lift distracts it from the group’s core strengths.
A Quest for Scale, But First a Turnaround
While the stakes are high in light of Mytheresa’s success in the face of difficult conditions, there is an opportunity for scale at play. After all, the rationale for the acquisition is rooted in reach as well as infrastructure. In a call with analysts last year, Mytheresa CEO Michael Kliger said that the combined Gross Merchandise Value of Mytheresa and YNAP was around €3 billion, and by joining forces, the group could grow to €4 billion in GMV by fiscal year 2029. Beyond that, YNAP adds geographic depth thanks to distribution centers in the U.S. and China – two of Mytheresa’s fastest-growing markets. YNAP also brings with it a broader assortment of brands (more than 1,000 to be exact), which will give LuxExperience the ability to drive greater sales volume without compromising its well-oiled Mytheresa machine.
But scale alone will not guarantee success. One need not look further than the loss-making YNAP to see that. The company, founded by Federico Marchetti, once held the title of the world’s largest luxury e-commerce platform. However, the platform suffered under Richemont’s ownership, with woes stemming from a fundamental mismatch between Richemont’s traditional luxury culture and the fast-moving, tech-centric demands of an e-commerce platform. There was also the lack of tech expertise and underinvestment, the distraction from a failed Farfetch deal, and the strategic missteps in how YNAP was integrated that added to the issue. The result? An apparent lack of revenue growth following YNAP’s acquisition by Richemont back in 2018, and widening losses: as of the first half of 2024, reports put YNAP’s losses at a cool €128 million.
LuxExperience will need to walk a fine line. It needs to turn around the ailing YNAP while also ensuring that the integration effort does not rob the focus of management or erode Mytheresa’s high-spending customer base – one that delivers lower return rates and higher margins, and in turn, profitability.
Structure, Strategy & Leadership
As for how LuxExperience will go about this daunting task, its strategy appears to center on separation. Specifically, Net-a-Porter and Mr. Porter will be migrated to Mytheresa’s tech platform, but they will continue to maintain their own brand identities and offer differentiated but complementary multi-brand offerings for luxury customers, while sharing central infrastructure resources. Meanwhile, YNAP’s off-price properties, Yoox and The Outnet, will operate independently within a separate division for a much simpler and more efficient operating model, per LuxExperience. And YNAP’s white-label operations, which managed digital storefronts for external brands, will be shuttered entirely.
This comes in furtherance of a deal that Kliger says is not about creating a single platform to serve all, but instead, offering up clearly differentiated brand identities based on different assortments, different marketing, and different customer touchpoints.
With this in mind, one of the central challenges for LuxExperience will be defining the roles of each platform in order to avoid the risk of overlapping offerings leading to brand cannibalization. Experts agree that brand clarity will be key to avoiding overlap: Mytheresa’s model – built on exclusivity, brand partnerships (including Loewe and Brunello Cucinelli), and top-tier clienteling – must remain intact. At the same time, Net-a-Porter and Mr. Porter must be repositioned without blurring brand lines.
It will also require LuxExperience to address YNAP’s unprofitable operations; it is expected to consolidate backend logistics, tech infrastructure, and support services across platforms to drive efficiencies.
Behind this push is a new senior leadership team, with Kliger continuing to lead the group, joined by both Mytheresa veterans and YNAP executives, including former YNAP President of Online Flagship Store Francesca Tranquilli as Chief Transformation Officer. Brand-level CEOs, including Net-a-Porter’s Heather Kaminetsky and Mr. Porter’s Toby Bateman, have been appointed to lead the respective brands to ensure that they maintain distinct brand identities.
Looking Ahead
Mytheresa has already signaled that the post-acquisition phase will focus on integration and discipline, specifically: unifying technology infrastructure, realigning brand assortments, and leveraging a combined customer base of over 1.3 million luxury consumers. If successful, LuxExperience could emerge as the undisputed multi-brand digital luxury group and could transform global digital luxury retail in the process.
Share
