While other retailers toiled and tumbled through the holiday season, Mytheresa thrived.
On February 25, the luxury fashion platform released its first results since debuting on the New York Stock Exchange in January, with net income more than doubling from 6.3 million euros to 15.7 million euros. Meanwhile, sales increased 32.9 percent to 158.6 million euros in the three months ending December 31.
This growth was fueled by more than 100,000 first-time buyers and over half a million active customers, up 28.2 percent from last year, as global lockdowns accelerated the shift to e-commerce.
“Mytheresa is about inspiration not aggregation,” said CEO Michael Kliger about the company’s Q2 strategy. “It is about an unrivaled, highly curated offering, a focus on high-end luxury customers, sophisticated technologies, and a first-class in-house managed service experience.”
According to Kliger, acquiring and retaining customers is about putting brand relationships at the center. As such, the Munich-based firm, which curates from over 200 global names, not only launched exclusive capsule collections and pre-launches with luxury giants such as Valentino, Moncler, and Max Mara, but also teamed up the designers of Khaite, Wardrobe NYC, Eéra and other influencers to host digital events.
China is also on the company’s agenda, as signaled by the physical VIC event held in Shanghai last December. Guests joined Gusto Luxe’s co-founder Chloé Reuter, fashion curator Boko Rok, and Mytheresa’s fashion buying director Tiffany Hsu for a fireside chat on current fashion and art trends, while catching glimpses of the exclusive Christian Louboutin x Mytheresa and Khaite x Mytheresa capsule series. This follows the appointment of actress Cecilia Song as the first brand ambassador for Greater China in September.
Mytheresa’s market share in the mainland remains small, with only a quarter of its business coming from the Asia-Pacific region. But now with the IPO settled and extra money to spend, the German e-tailer is eyeing China for greater expansion to reach its coveted consumer base.
“It is a region where [in] the last decades so much wealth was created, and also it is a region where there is a true appreciation for true luxury products, the craftsmanship, the European heritage,” said Kliger to SCMP.
However, with the landmark Richemont, Alibaba, and Farfetch partnership threatening to squeeze competitors out of the Chinese luxury e-tail market, the journey won’t be smooth sailing.