This morning’s announcement that luxury fashion retailer Mytheresa is acquiring Yoox Net-a-Porter brings parent company Richemont’s turbulent chapter spent trying to offload it to a close. Retail Week takes a look at the German luxury brand that has been thriving while other players flounder, as well as what the deal means for both businesses moving forward.
Mytheresa announced this morning it has entered into an agreement to acquire 100% of Yoox Net-a-Porter from Swiss luxury giant Richemont.
The news comes a year on from the failed sale of the Yoox business to Farfetch after Farfetch needed to secure new funding to avoid bankruptcy and was swiftly snapped up by ecommerce giant Coupang.
Richemont is now set to sell the business with a cash position of €555m (£424.3m) and no financial debt in exchange for a 33% stake in Mytheresa, retaining an interest in the business. Previous owner Richemont will also nominate a member and observer to the supervisory board of Mytheresa once the deal closes in the first half of 2025.
With a new owner and a new chapter on the horizon for Yoox, Retail Week takes a look at new owner Mytheresa, the luxury retailer’s current brand portfolio and performance, and what the deal means for the two moving forward.
What we know about Mytheresa
First founded as a boutique in Germany in 1987, Mytheresa made its online debut in 2006, and evolved into a luxury ecommerce retailer offering clothing, shoes and accessories across womenswear, menswear and childrenswear.
With a modest 2 million Instagram followers, Mytheresa caters for the “luxury enthusiast” and has managed to maintain its status as a leading luxury player via its exclusive product offerings, physical shopping experiences, bespoke events for top customers and its narrowed focus on affluent, fashion-conscious shoppers who are willing to spend large amounts.
Mytheresa’s portfolio currently includes more than 200 brands including the likes of Gucci, Chloé, Bottega Veneta, Givenchy, Prada and Balenciaga, and the retailer prides itself on its long-standing relationships with many of the biggest brands on the market.
Shipping to more than 130 countries and offering exclusive collections that can’t be found elsewhere, Mytheresa is a current leader in the luxury market. Chief executive Michael Kliger says its current growth is being driven by market consolidation as it remains one of the few players still winning in today’s challenging and turbulent market.
The once-crowded luxury market has dwindled in recent years with aspirational spending retracting due to rising interest rates and the cost-of-living crisis pushing shoppers further away from big-ticket non-essentials. The decline of Farfetch and collapse of Matches are just two examples of Mytheresa’s competitors that have struggled to bounce back.
Mytheresa’s parent company filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in November 2020 and has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since January 2021.
For the full year to June 30, 2024, Mytheresa saw a 9.8% growth in net sales to €841m (£706m) up from €766m (£643m) in 2023.
What will the acquisition mean?
With the luxury online market forecast to double to around €170bn (£130bn) by 2030, according to luxury goods analysis by Bain Altagamma, there is evidently potential for the market to gain traction and grow once again – putting Mytheresa particularly in good stead.
Richemont chair Johann Rupert has called Mytheresa “a good home” for Yoox Net-a-Porter and deems the German luxury company a “trusted partner” to brands across the world.
Meanwhile, Kliger confirms the two will remain separate entities but says that they are a natural fit. “To take a bricks-and-mortar analogy, Selfridges and Harrods are in the luxury industry, but they’re clearly in differentiated positions,” he says.
“This is the same for Mytheresa and Net-a-Porter, and therefore they are complementary. They can use the same infrastructure, but they will have different assortments, different marketing and different customer touchpoints. And thus we will also keep separate the teams that are responsible for delivering this differentiated marketing and differentiated customer touchpoints.”
With many things in common from reputable customer service to digital innovation, global reach across hundreds of markets and product offerings across the whole luxury segment, it seems the two combined will only bolster Mytheresa’s existing strength in the market as it continues to grow as a multi-brand favourite.
GlobalData managing director Neil Saunders called Mytheresa the “perfect” partner for Yoox and is optimistic about its future.
“Although it has taken a massive write-down in the process, Richemont has finally found a way to offload Yoox Net-a-Porter,” he says.
“In many ways, Mytheresa is the perfect home for the brand as it is one of the few luxury marketplaces that has managed to successfully navigate its way through a slowdown in the sector.
“It will be a good home for YNAP in that it can integrate the business into its existing platform and instil some operating discipline into the company.”
The deal will also see Net-a-Porter and Mr Poter integrated into Mythereas’s luxury division, with its off-price offering via Yoox and The Outnet separated into its own section – something Saunders thinks will also benefit both businesses.
“The decision to separate out the Yoox operation, which is loss-making, is sensible as this fits less well with what Mytheresa does.”
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