82 950
Fashion Jobs
URBN
Anthropologie Omni Service Specialist Part-Time
Permanent · NOVI
BUCKLE BRANDS
Freight Coordinator
Permanent · MUNCIE
TAILORED SHARED SERVICES
Creative Project Manager
Permanent · DUBLIN
TAILORED SHARED SERVICES
sr Digital Category Manager
Permanent · DUBLIN
TAILORED SHARED SERVICES
Associate Digital Category Manager
Permanent · DUBLIN
SALLY BEAUTY CORPORATE
IT Senior Manager
Permanent · DENTON
HAND & STONE
Assistant Spa Manager - Apex
Permanent · APEX
HAND & STONE
Assistant Spa Manager - Voorhees
Permanent · VOORHEES TOWNSHIP
HAND & STONE
Assistant Spa Manager - Brentwood
Permanent · BRENTWOOD
HAND & STONE
Assistant Spa Manager - Princeton
Permanent · PRINCETON
HAND & STONE
Assistant Spa Manager - South Park
Permanent · CHARLOTTE
HAND & STONE
Assistant Spa Manager - Camp Hill
Permanent · CAMP HILL
HAND & STONE
Assistant Spa Manager - Chantilly
Permanent · FAIRFAX
HAND & STONE
Assistant Spa Manager - Gaithersburg
Permanent · GAITHERSBURG
HAND & STONE
Assistant Spa Manager - Medford
Permanent · MEDFORD
HAND & STONE
Sales Manager - Winston-Salem
Permanent · WINSTON-SALEM
HAND & STONE
Assistant Spa Manager - Severna Park
Permanent · SEVERNA PARK
HAND & STONE
Assistant Spa Manager - Langhorne
Permanent · LANGHORNE
HAND & STONE
Assistant Spa Manager - Timonium
Permanent · TIMONIUM
HAND & STONE
Assistant Spa Manager - Newtown Square
Permanent · EDGMONT
HAND & STONE
Assistant Spa Manager - Falls Church
Permanent · FALLS CHURCH
HAND & STONE
Assistant Spa Manager - Reston
Permanent · RESTON
By
Reuters
Published
Apr 17, 2023
Reading time
2 minutes
Download
Download the article
Print
Text size

Luxury e-tailer Mytheresa bets on post-Covid China expansion

By
Reuters
Published
Apr 17, 2023

​German luxury e-tailer Mytheresa is refocusing its efforts to grow its business in China, a notoriously competitive e-commerce landscape dominated by local giants Alibaba and, increasingly, Douyin, the Chinese version of Tiktok.


Mytheresa


The company plans to court shoppers in the world's third largest luxury market by employing personal shoppers and holding in-person events, its CEO said on Monday.

"The company [globally] has grown 20%-plus in recent years and our expectation from China in coming years is double that," Chief Executive Michael Kliger told Reuters in Shanghai.

"Because we are so small here, this doesn't even mean we are going against the big guys, it's still a very special customer we focus on."

Kliger said the company was positioned to appeal to "mature" luxury customers in China, adding that Mytheresa's top 3% of customers account for 35% of total sales.

"The luxury customer that just starts a love affair with luxury that is looking for her or his first piece, it's probably not the target that we have in mind," he added.

Other global luxury e-commerce players, such as Farfetch and Yoox Net-a-Porter, have long tried to crack the China market. Both have now joined forces with market leader Alibaba, via an investment tie-up and joint venture deal, respectively.

Mytheresa first registered a local Chinese company in 2017 but progress was stymied by Covid. Last year, it began making fresh moves for the Chinese market, with Kliger hiring a new Asia-Pacific president, Steven Xu, and starting to sell on Chinese e-commerce platform JD.com in addition to its own app and website.

Patrice Nordey, managing partner at innovation agency EY Fabernovel, said Mytheresa's positioning towards the higher end of the luxury consumer pyramid will help, but the competitive landscape remains an obstacle for a company shipping products from Europe into China.

"I would question whether an international platform that is serving Chinese customers from overseas will be able to deliver service that is in line with the expectations of consumers here," he said. "That is something other platforms have struggled with in the past."
 

© Thomson Reuters 2024 All rights reserved.