Mytheresa’s North America president on why the US remains a key market for the luxury retailer

During the pandemic, Heather Kaminetsky was perusing e-commerce sites when she took note of German luxury e-commerce site Mytheresa and was impressed by its curation of luxury merchandise.

With over 300 high-end brands like Gucci and Loewe on its site, Kaminetsky’s impression was that it represented “true luxury,” she told Retail Brew. It was then that she decided to leverage her years of experience at startups and retailers, including Barney’s and Net-A-Porter, to bring Mytheresa to the US.

And after proposing the idea and having hours long conversations with the company’s CEO, she was brought on board as president of the company’s North American arm, and the site officially launched in the US in June 2021.

“The reason the US honestly was so important is because the opportunity was right in front of us,” she told Retail Brew. “We had the product, we have great service, but just nobody knows what Mytheresa is in the US, so we launched here.”

In November 2022, roughly 17 months after launching, gross merchandise revenue was up 21%, hitting 197.9 million euros (~$217.5 million) while gross profit margin rose from 49% to 49.9% as the US remained a key growth market for the company.

Kaminetsky says throughout that period of growth, the retailer has followed a tailored strategy for the US that includes features like personal shopping and doing physical and experiential events. She said the company has also been working on raising brand awareness through partnerships and programming with luxury resale platforms like Vestiaire Collective so the “affluent consumer” knows what Mytheresa is.

Talk of the town: Another part of the strategy is client engagement. “I would even call it grassroots, like really getting into the market, and meeting people, speaking to people, bringing products to people within different communities,” she said. “During Covid, there was so much migration to other states that we had to identify where they were, and we just went into [different] markets really fast and furious.”

Although both California and New York are the largest markets for Mytheresa, it is also trying to cater to customers in places like Arkansas. “It’s not our largest market on a sheet, but there was a client who identified herself, so we went down, and we had a wonderful few-day shopping experience with these clients,” she explained.

She added that while it’s important to know what markets are big for the retailer, when it comes to expanding its footprint, “that’s not necessarily how we prioritize where we’re going to activate.”

While it continues to expand its presence as an e-comm luxury newbie, Mytheresa is using a series of pop-ups across the country and curated experiences to increase brand recognition.

But what better way to make a statement and build awareness than an actual physical storefront? Well, Kaminetsky says never say never, but for now, it’s probably never.

“What we have found [helpful] though is, with pop-ups, going into a location or a residence anywhere and bringing products that the event host helped us curate,” she said. “While yes, we sell from the [pop-up] events and people could walk away with product, it helps people learn about the uniqueness of Mytheresa, and we’re able to engage with them.”—JS