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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?

How a family boutique became LuxExperience

Munich early days

Mytheresa’s history begins in Munich in 1987, when Susanne and Christoph Botschen opened the Theresa luxury multi-brand boutique. In 2006, they launched Mytheresa.com in German and English, making it one of the first online boutiques dedicated to women’s luxury fashion, at a time when luxury e-commerce was still regarded as revolutionary and risky. Major luxury houses worried online sales could harm their brand equity by making highly desirable products available to the masses on an uncontrolled online store.

The company then pursued a step-by-step international expansion, adding French and Italian websites in 2012, an Arabic-language site in 2015, a Chinese website in 2016 and a Korean website in 2017, while progressively broadening its assortment beyond womenswear to include menswear, childrenswear, lifestyle and fine jewellery.

Three deals that reshaped Mytheresa

The Neiman Marcus Group acquired the business in 2014, recognising Mytheresa’s strong international customer base, curated assortment, and premium service model. The website continued to operate as an independent business within the Neiman Marcus Group, preserving its specialist approach to luxury retail. In January 2021, the company completed its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange and became one of the few publicly listed luxury e-commerce companies.

In the years that followed, Mytheresa invested in its technology, logistics, customer experience and events, including opening a major distribution centre at Leipzig Airport in 2024, while continuing to focus on high-spending customers, exclusive products, and personal shopping.

In October 2024, the company announced an agreement with Richemont to acquire YNAP, including NET-A-PORTER, MR PORTER, YOOX and THE OUTNET, creating a global digital luxury group with different storefronts sharing infrastructure and technology. The acquisition was completed in April 2025, and the listed parent company was renamed LuxExperience B.V. Mytheresa remained a distinct storefront within the enlarged group.

Focusing on the HNWIs

Two layers: price and access

Mytheresa develops two operating models in parallel: the website with a year-round discount section for aspirational shoppers, and full-price and invisible services for the top tier. Aspirational consumers are more exposed to inflation, economic uncertainty, and price increases, and they respond to price. But the split goes beyond pricing: it is the clearest expression of the two-layer model. The visible layer, the e-commerce platform, runs on price. Markdowns and EOS sales clear inventory and keep traffic flowing. The invisible layer runs on access. Economic uncertainty can affect high-spending customers, but they tend to be more resilient and less motivated by discounts: they can't find what they pay full price for in the visible layer, i.e. time, attention, and privilege.

When concentration becomes the business model

Mytheresa's strategy rests on the premise that a small sliver of customers drives an outsized share of revenue: working professionals with significant spending power and limited time, who shop frequently, seek luxury products not easily found elsewhere, and demand superior customer service. Representing 4.8% of the total customer count, they drive around 40% of Mytheresa's annual revenue. The company doesn't see that concentration as a consequence of luxury retail's evolution; it treats it as the operating model. Mytheresa reports a specific KPI: GMV per top customer. For example, in Q4 FY26, GMV per top customer rose by just under 5%, and the top-customer count was up 18%, showing the company's focus on high-spending, wardrobe-building top customers buying full price. To grow the top customer count, the company built a proprietary machine-learning algorithm that tracks 20 variables per customer, from past purchases to browsing habits, to identify "wardrobe builders" likely to buy most of their clothing on the site. These clients buy more often than other customer segments and spend on average 50% more per order than the overall customer base.

In FY26, Mytheresa served 774,000 active customers, 6% fewer than the previous year. The global luxury slowdown likely had an impact, but this decrease also shows management reallocating effort to the customers who matter most. Michael Kliger, former Mytheresa CEO and now CEO of LuxExperience, has explained the logic in cohort terms. About 75% of newly acquired customers drop away within a year, but the remaining quarter deliver close to 100% YoY revenue retention. Once that quarter is identified, the focus shifts to retention, repurchase, and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), showing Mytheresa judges acquisition spend on who is still buying after 12 months, not on first orders. The arithmetic is clear: net sales up 11.5% with 6% fewer active customers. Mytheresa grew by selling more to fewer people, and they use personal shoppers to do so.

What personal shopping actually means

Retail defines personal shopping loosely, sometimes reducing it to a styling add-on. At Mytheresa, it is rooted in the brand’s brick-and-mortar heritage, where technology cannot replace emotion and relationships. Personal shoppers are often described as dedicated concierges. Top clients are assigned a personal shopper who handles everything from shopping to delivery, is reachable by phone or WhatsApp, and can offer style advice or reserve items before they even appear on the website; part of the best merchandise is therefore sold before it ever reaches the visible storefront. Mytheresa employs about 100 personal shoppers worldwide, out of roughly 1,600 staff. By the company's own figures (4.8% of 774,000 active customers), the top tier, divided into 2 tiers, Inner Circle and Front Row, represents roughly 37,000 clients. Of course, not all top customers use personal shopping services, but the relatively low number of personal shoppers compared to the top customer count raises questions about the true nature of the so-called concierge service. Based on these figures, each personal shopper should cover around 370 top clients on average, suggesting the fully personal relationship is reserved for a much smaller inner core: an invisible layer within the invisible layer. The personal shopping team is growing to increase top-customer share. Mytheresa is creating personal shopping teams in Hong Kong and the Middle East, and expanding them in Europe, the US, and Shanghai.

Some department stores are following the same path, with Bloomingdale's as the most relevant example. The company hired its top-performing freelance stylists as its own staff, those who were generating over $2 million in annual sales. They hired 110, and they now drive 40% of fashion revenue. They know how to build friendly relationships with their clients, and similar to Mytheresa, some top customers are taken to fashion shows or to one-of-a-kind events such as a dinner organised with Vince at the Sheats-Goldstein residence in Los Angeles. Emerging from bankruptcy, Bergdorf Goodman is also focusing on top customers and rebuilding trust and business around its personal shoppers, whose 40 highest-volume members generate about $200 million in annual sales, up 5% this year.

Events and experiences: the offline engine behind an online business

Mytheresa's digital convenience (product availability, packaging, payment security, fast delivery, reliable returns and responsive customer service, driving a Net Promoter Score of 83.3) is balanced with in-person engagement. While around 90% of client interactions happen digitally, via WhatsApp or Messenger, the remaining 10% are in person and count as much for acquisition as for retention. None of this shows on the website: the most important relationship happens in a private chat with a named contact. Mytheresa’s FY26 annual report notes that they hosted 138 events and experiences across Europe, the United States and Asia. These occasions help CEO Francis Belin, appointed 10 months ago and previously Christie’s president for Asia Pacific, better understand customers’ habits and needs. Recent highlights included a two-day Dolce & Gabbana experience in Sardinia, a dinner with Valentino in Los Angeles, a 48-hour experience with Zegna in Turin and a mountain experience with Moncler in Gstaad. Mytheresa extends into lifestyle activations such as Maison Mytheresa, consisting of seasonal residences. For example, they had a two-week summer yacht experience sailing from Monte-Carlo to Saint-Tropez, offering trunk shows, cocktail parties and private shopping appointments. This shows that events are tailored to different customer personalities, from parties, dinners, lunches and more elaborate experiences, because not all customers want the same format.

These examples show the design principle behind these events: they're less about hospitality and more about access to “money can’t buy” experiences. A top client does not need a retailer to book dinner at the Ritz. What a client cannot arrange alone is a visit to the Berluti atelier, or time with a designer. These moments cannot be booked and cannot be bought at any price: they sit entirely in the invisible layer. For example, in 2022, Brunello Cucinelli celebrated his birthday at his home with friends and family, plus 30 attendees the designer didn’t know: Mytheresa sent their invitations. Prada's €7 return on every euro spent entertaining top clients sets an industry benchmark for these kinds of top customer events.

Each Mytheresa event blends top clients, press and influencers. This mix is vital to the company’s event strategy, as it makes customers feel they are part of the fashion ecosystem. Then, press and tastemakers amplify some of these events. Mytheresa covers all expenses as soon as clients land in the city where the event takes place. Many top customers also see Mytheresa’s events as a networking opportunity, using the time to make new connections and even go into business together after meeting at events. Pop-up events also play a key role in acquiring new customers. For example, Mytheresa has run pop-up stores in the Hamptons in the US in recent years: converting even a small share of 3,000 visitors in such prestige locations is far higher quality than what they gain through the website.

With their events, Mytheresa creates the physical intimacy that some department stores already own on their top floors. The new Selfridges 40 Duke, a members-only club designed to deepen loyalty among top spenders through personalised experiences and luxury partnerships, is the most relevant example here. The question is whether stores programme that space with the same “access, not hospitality” logic, and whether they keep it as discreet: an invisible layer loses its value the moment it is marketed to everyone.

Curation is not a merchandising detail, it is the product

Limited assortment: 280 brands beat 1,000

One of Mytheresa’s competitive advantages is a disciplined approach to assortment, as it carries only about 280 brands, including 30 jewellery brands. As a comparison, NET-A-PORTER sells 1,000 brands. The platform’s value doesn't come from showing every possible product, and customers do not have to navigate an endless catalogue. Mytheresa acts as a filter and style authority, a service more valuable than assortment breadth. Top customers expect Mytheresa to have already made many of the decisions for them, giving them confidence that the selection is credible and that they won't waste time browsing irrelevant merchandise. As Belin explains, wealthy customers increasingly show a collector’s mindset, making curation more important than before. “We don’t want to be a place where you have everything for everybody,” he said to Monocle. “Mytheresa is the place where you have exactly what a specific audience is looking for. That’s real curation.”

The approach also benefits brand partners. Mytheresa demonstrates the competitive advantage multi-brand e-tail offers, as Belin explains: “so many customers want to have access to a curated selection, instead of spending three days going up and down Fifth Avenue or Avenue Montaigne. Mono-brand retail can’t replicate this”. The curation strategy pays off as luxury brands increasingly prioritise direct-to-consumer channels over multi-brand retail.

Exclusives instead of discounts

At the centre of the access strategy, Mytheresa provides capsule collections, pre-launches, and personalised offerings. In FY26, Mytheresa launched around 60 exclusive collaborations, supported by 360 marketing campaigns, with brands including Pucci, Phoebe Philo, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Gucci, Loewe, Prada, Alaïa, and more. These initiatives give customers an additional reason to visit Mytheresa rather than a brand’s own website or another multi-brand platform. They create urgency and access without relying on price promotions. They mirror the visible layer: where the mainstream offer creates urgency with a countdown to the end of a sale, the invisible one creates it with scarcity and early access.

The road ahead

Staying on top

Belin is convinced that Mytheresa’s people-centric approach will keep the business growing. This is why tech will never replace buyers and events. Logistics, though, will remain fundamental, as the backbone of superior customer service. This philosophy mirrors his experience at Christie’s, where trust among sellers, buyers, and the auction house is key. In that sense, Belin sees Mytheresa as a private club rather than a multi-brand e-tailer. He explained how Mytheresa has moved past the traditional wholesale model to become a host, entertainer and private club for its high-spending fashion clients. “It becomes clear that we’re not just an ‘e-tailer’. We’re all about relationships, first and foremost with our customers but also with the brands that we sell. We’re extremely focused on who our customers are and what’s interesting to them. We then remove everything that’s not relevant.”

International growth: where the next top clients will come from

With 20% growth in the past four years, the United States is Mytheresa’s most important opportunity, and could become its largest market within three to five years. Europe provides an established customer base and is the most mature market, but growth is naturally slower. Asia represents a future opportunity, but is not the immediate strategic priority. The company also sees the Middle East as attractive despite the current conflict in the region. The region already brings in almost 10% of revenue and justifies more spending on marketing, personal shopping and events.

YNAP: the opportunity and the risk

The YNAP acquisition gives Mytheresa new opportunities: greater scale, additional and different customers ranging from luxury to aspirational luxury shoppers, including those from NET-A-PORTER and MR PORTER (with an existing 10% overlap), as well as discount buyers (YOOX, THE OUTNET, which will also be outlets for Mytheresa EOS stocks), and broader geographic reach. However, the acquisition also tests whether Mytheresa’s philosophy can work in a much larger organisation. The company plans to preserve distinct brand identities while sharing infrastructure and operational best practices. For Mytheresa, the risk is that scale could dilute the qualities that made it successful: close brand relationships, strong service discipline and, most importantly, customer intimacy. So far, Q4 FY26 has shown promising results, with LuxExperience citing a clear turnaround in its FY26 statement, with NET-A-PORTER and MR PORTER combined delivering topline growth and profitability. YOOX is set to do the same, delivering topline growth while cutting losses almost in half compared to Q4 FY25.

Mytheresa’s story matters to department stores for three reasons. First, it is not a tech success story. The company started as a relationship-driven, brick-and-mortar store, and its decisive choices remain commercial and almost old-fashioned: know your best customers by name, give them a dedicated contact, offer them access they cannot get elsewhere, and make sure what you sell has already been edited for them, all department store skills. What Mytheresa adds is turning them into its operating model. Second, it chose a CEO from an auction house rather than retail, where specialists know their collectors personally and trust is the product. This is a strategic signal, not a resume detail. Third, and most importantly, it shows retail's two-layer future. The visible layer is open to all: mass and aspirational customers, served on store floors and websites, and increasingly driven by discounts. The invisible layer is for HNWIs and VICs only, and happens elsewhere: in a pair of shoes set aside before launch or in a seat at a designer’s birthday. Department stores are open to all by essence: Mytheresa shows the two layers can coexist under one roof, provided each keeps its own currency: price for the first, access for the second. The rationale is not to close the doors, but to build a stronger personal shopping business for VICs or an invitation-only layer on top of an open store, as Selfridges does with 40 Duke. While the model can apply to price points beyond luxury, it has limits for Mytheresa: they depend on a small, expensive-to-acquire clientele, and the YNAP integration will test whether customer intimacy survives scale. For department stores, the question is not whether to court HNWIs or VICs (they already do it, as proved by Bloomingdale’s), but whether they measure, staff and programme for them as deliberately, without losing the aspirational customers who still fill their floors, and whether they are ready for a future in which the most valuable part of their business is the one shoppers never see.

Credits: IADS (Christine Montard)