Mytheresa

The German e-tailer’s deal to acquire the London-based luxury site, and become a global luxury e-commerce giant, is only as viable as its ability to make the whole enterprise profitable. BoF unpacks what it could take to get there.

The merger between the luxury e-tailers has potentially far-reaching implications for the troubled sector.

Under the terms of the transaction, Richemont will take a 33 percent stake in Mytheresa. The deal brings Richemont’s years-long slog to offload the troubled YNAP to a close.

After surviving the luxury e-commerce slowdown this year, Mytheresa is preparing for the future by introducing new initiatives to retain its stronghold on its highest spending customers.

Experts say Mytheresa, Ssense and Moda Operandi have kept afloat in a challenged space by honing in on a particular consumer, curating their assortments and executing on retail basics. Still, the road ahead is tough, and the bigger they get, the harder it will be to sustain these strategies.

Mytheresa on Wednesday reported another quarter of standout growth in an otherwise dreary luxury e-commerce sector amid reports that the German e-tailer is considering going private and acquiring Net-a-Porter.

It’s been a tough year for luxury e-commerce — but a crop of smaller marketplaces are beating the odds with a focus on emerging accessible luxury brands and a firmer grip on operating costs.

The futures of multi-brand luxury heavyweights Yoox Net-a-Porter and Neiman Marcus may be decided in the coming days.

Mytheresa may not be leaps above its struggling online luxury peers, but its sales and profit growth are still modest. The company is betting that appealing to top spending clients will keep it from suffering the same fate as its competitors.

Mytheresa, J.Crew and E.l.f. Cosmetics are among the retailers to have developed apps for the newly launched ‘spatial computing’ headset as they try to leverage its capabilities for more immersive, emotional shopping experiences.