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Consolidation efforts have begun for Mytheresa and Yoox Net-a-Porter.
LuxExperience — the newly formed company comprising Mytheresa, Net-a-Porter, Mr Porter, Yoox and The Outnet — announced that there will be approximately 700 layoffs across its workforce in Italy, the UK and the US. It’s the first significant move from Mytheresa in its wider restructuring of Yoox Net-a-Porter (YNAP), which it acquired in April.
“LuxExperience anticipates significant efficiency and structural improvements to be achieved by simplifying the business and using shared infrastructure where appropriate. LuxExperience expects its newly acquired store brands Net-a-Porter, Mr Porter, Yoox and The Outnet to regain growth and financial strength after years of decline,” the company said in the press release.
Mytheresa acquired struggling YNAP from Richemont, and highlighted at the time of the announcement that Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter were profitable, but that the off-price division (Yoox and The Outnet) was loss-making. Since then, LuxExperience’s strategy has been to run the off-price division separately from the luxury division, and LuxExperience CEO Michael Kliger confirmed at the time of the acquisition that there were no plans to shut down the off-price brands.
“One of the problems that YNAP has been facing is that they were in the process of creating an infrastructure that was supposed to serve luxury, off-price and even white label. They created something that serves quite different business needs and the result of that was great complexity and a solution that doesn’t serve anyone particularly well because it’s trying to do so many things,” Kliger told Vogue Business at the time. “Our view is that the infrastructure for those different business needs should be separated.”
Since the acquisition, analysts have been clear that the off-price division would be the hardest to turn around, and that it would require significant operational efficiency, leveraging of its tech capabilities and reengagement of an often fickle discount-hunting consumer. There’s also the challenge of selling off-price online, which can be difficult because of the ever-changing assortment and cataloguing requirements.
The round of layoffs across the YNAP brands has sparked speculation that LuxExperience will sell Yoox and close The Outnet. LuxExperience declined to comment on the speculation.
Mytheresa has emerged as one of the few winners in luxury multibrand retail, while competitors have struggled to stay afloat. Farfetch faced a fire sale in 2023, Matches fell into administration in 2024, and Ssense filed for bankruptcy protection last week.
“The difficult planned actions announced today are a critical part of the overall transformation plan for YNAP that also includes significant investments in future growth through more customer-centricity, marketing spend, as well as increased buying budgets, which aim to further solidify LuxExperience as the undisputed leader in global, digital luxury,” the company said.
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