Luxury e-commerce has long followed mainstream e-commerce logic: offer as many brands and products as possible in an endless product-aisle kind of way, acquire customers aggressively, increase traffic, and use promotions to drive conversion. Mytheresa followed a different path. Rooted in its initial brick-and-mortar, relationship-driven business, it built its identity around service, experience and selectivity. Its ambition is not to win every shopper, but to become the reference for a smaller group of High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs). That strategic choice has transformed the company from a Munich-based boutique with an online operation into a successful luxury e-tailer outperforming the market. Results speak for themselves. In FY26, net sales rose 11.5% from FY25 at constant currency to just under €1bn. Adjusted EBITDA grew 39.8%. Average order value was up 13.1% YoY.

These figures hide a business shift we think department stores should examine: a growing split between two layers of customers and operations. The first is visible: websites, store floors, regular product offerings and markdowns, where mass and aspirational customers are won. The second is 100% invisible, even concealed, and happens elsewhere: in conversations with a personal shopper, at dinners, and in ateliers no amount of money can book. Mytheresa has built the second layer, without losing the first. The article examines how the two layers work: how the e-tailer identifies and retains a small number of HNWIs, how it turns personal shopping, curation and entertainment into more than loyalty. And finally, what’s next for Mytheresa?

IADS Exclusive – Mytheresa, e-tailer or invisible club for HNWIs?

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