Executive Overview
The luxury e-commerce ecosystem is undergoing a dramatic structural reckoning. For years, digital retail platforms expanded aggressively, prioritizing sheer volume, widespread customer acquisition, and rapid geographical scaling over deep brand equity and high-value client retention. However, shifting macroeconomic realities, rising customer acquisition costs, and evolving consumer behaviors have forced parent companies to pivot.
At the center of this transformation are legacy luxury giants Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter. Following their acquisition by Mytheresa in April 2025 under the newly formed banner LuxExperience, the platforms are charting a calculated course toward recovery. Led by LuxExperience CEO Michael Kliger, the strategy relies not on chasing every casual browser, but on re-engaging a hyper-lucrative cohort of elite, lapsed high-spenders.
Simultaneously, the secondary luxury and resale markets are reshaping how consumers interact with fashion during Fashion Month. eBay, leveraging its newly expanded Authenticity Guarantee and experiential retail showrooms across fashion capitals like Milan and Paris, is aggressively targeting cross-border trade. With innovative formats like London’s "Endless Runway" and live-stream shopping capabilities, platforms are bridging the gap between physical spectacle and digital transactions.
This comprehensive analysis explores the financial realities, technological upgrades, merchandising pivots, and cross-border strategies defining the current luxury landscape.
Detailed Chronology
To understand the current trajectory of Net-a-Porter, Mr Porter, and the broader luxury landscape, it is vital to trace the critical operational and financial milestones that have shaped the industry over the past year:
- April 2025: Mytheresa officially finalizes its acquisition of Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter, consolidating operations under the newly formed corporate umbrella, LuxExperience.
- May–June 2025: The new management team initiates a comprehensive operational audit, identifying critical friction points in international inventory visibility, email delivery architecture, and customer service pipelines.
- July 2025: eBay officially closes its strategic acquisition of Depop, positioning the marketplace to explore future synergies in authentication and European market penetration while maintaining Depop’s distinct brand identity.
- Quarter Ended June 30, 2025: Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter mark a critical inflection point, posting a combined net sales increase of 5.6% (excluding currency effects). This represents their first quarter of year-over-year growth since the LuxExperience acquisition.
- September 2025 (Fashion Month): eBay rolls out immersive physical showrooms in Milan and Paris, expanding its Authenticity Guarantee to key European markets. Meanwhile, London Fashion Week hosts eBay’s third annual "Endless Runway" show, blending high-profile curation with real-time eBay Live commerce.
- Fall/Winter 2025–2026 Buying Cycle: The upcoming retail season marks the official debut of collections curated under Brigitte Chartrand, Net-a-Porter’s newly appointed chief buying and merchandising officer, replacing assortments from the legacy buying teams.
- Late 2025 to Early 2026 Outlook: LuxExperience prepares to roll out an expanded pipeline of high-profile physical events, editorial campaigns—including Porter magazine covers featuring high-profile icons like Serena Williams and Cindy Crawford—and integrated product initiatives designed to fully convert lapsed top-tier clients.
Supporting Context & Metrics
The turnaround strategy for Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter is deeply rooted in hard data. While top-line growth is a positive indicator, a granular look at customer segmentation reveals where the true value of the business lies.
The Power of the Ultra-High-Spender
During the quarter ended June 30, the combined net sales of Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter rose 5.6% year-over-year on a constant-currency basis. However, this growth occurred alongside an 11.1% decline in the active customer count over the same period.
Rather than viewing this drop in total active users as a failure, LuxExperience CEO Michael Kliger has embraced it as part of a deliberate triage strategy. The business is no longer burning capital to acquire low-intent, entry-level shoppers. Instead, the focus is squarely fixed on a hyper-exclusive group of approximately 35,000 top-tier clients.
The financial rationale for this focus is undeniable. Data from fiscal 2026 indicates that this elite group—representing just 4.3% of the total active customer base—generated an astounding 49.1% of the combined gross merchandise value (GMV) for Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter.
Regional Resurgence: The U.S. Market
The United States continues to serve as the engine room for the two retailers, accounting for nearly half of their combined global sales. In the most recent quarter, U.S. sales surged by 15.1% excluding currency effects.
Crucially, this growth was not driven by sweeping mass-market acquisition campaigns. Instead, it was fueled by two distinct behaviors:
- Reactivation: Successfully winning back lapsed high-net-worth customers who had previously abandoned the platforms for competitors.
- Wallet Share Expansion: Encouraging existing top-tier clients to increase their average order value and frequency of purchase.
Profitability and the Tariff Impact
Financially, the quarter yielded approximately $8.5 million (€7.4 million) in adjusted EBITDA, delivering a modest combined margin of 2.7%. However, corporate transparency requires contextualizing this figure.
During the earnings call, CFO Martin Beer noted that tariff refunds added 250 basis points to the quarter’s margin performance. While the segment would have remained slightly positive even without these refunds—marking a sharp improvement from the adjusted EBITDA loss of roughly $6.9 million (€6 million) recorded for the full fiscal year—management expects these operational adjustments to sustain profitability through fiscal 2027.
Official Statements & Strategic Insights
The leadership driving these transformations has been remarkably transparent regarding their long-term operational philosophies.
Michael Kliger on Rebuilding Luxury Trust
Addressing the decision to allow total customer counts to drop while aggressively courting elite shoppers, Michael Kliger emphasized the qualitative nature of luxury retail:
"I’m comfortable with the minus 11 [percent customer count], but I’m not comfortable with the amount of top customers we have. They once had Net-a-Porter or even Mr Porter as a trusted source for fashion and styling. It’s easy and fast to lose customers. It takes a bit more time to bring back customers."
Kliger noted that the objective is not to clone the Mytheresa playbook wholesale. While both platforms target high-spending luxury consumers, their brand expressions must remain distinct. Mytheresa excels at intimate, hyper-exclusive dinners, whereas Net-a-Porter leverages its powerhouse editorial arm, Porter magazine, to execute large-scale cultural events featuring global icons like Cindy Crawford, Serena Williams, and Katie Holmes.
Kirsty Keoghan on the Evolution of eBay Live and Resale
As European fashion weeks highlight the growing appetite for archival luxury, Kirsty Keoghan, eBay’s general manager of European fashion, emphasized the psychological and practical importance of live, interactive commerce:
"The best wardrobe actually already exists. You can talk to the condition, you can talk to the history and the provenance of all these items. That is what is so amazing about eBay Live."
By pairing theatrical runway presentations like London’s "Endless Runway"—featuring pieces curated by top stylists like Harry Lambert and costume designers like Sandy Powell—with real-time app integration, eBay is successfully converting passive viewers into active buyers. Furthermore, Keoghan addressed the strategic horizon regarding Depop, emphasizing that while Depop will retain its independent brand identity, shared technological and authentication infrastructure will unlock unprecedented scaling opportunities.
Future Outlook
As the luxury e-commerce sector moves toward the close of fiscal 2025 and looks ahead to 2027, several key indicators will determine the success of these ongoing turnarounds:
- Technical Friction Reduction: For Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter, the integration of global inventory pools—allowing U.S. shoppers to seamlessly view and purchase stock held in Italian warehouses—represents a vital step in reducing cart abandonment and satisfying size-specific demand.
- Editorial and Experiential Synergy: The upcoming seasons will test whether the creative direction under Brigitte Chartrand (merchandising) and Claudia Plant (brand and customer experience) can successfully reset customer perception. The goal is clear: transition Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter from a secondary consideration back to the No. 1 destination in the luxury consumer’s mind.
- Cross-Border Resale Expansion: For eBay, the physical proof-of-concept showrooms in Milan and Paris, combined with the expansion of the Authenticity Guarantee, will test whether European consumers are ready to embrace frictionless cross-border secondhand luxury at scale.
Ultimately, the luxury market is abandoning the race for hollow scale. Whether through elite client retention at LuxExperience or archival storytelling at eBay, the future belongs to platforms that can successfully merge operational precision, high-touch curation, and deep emotional resonance with the modern consumer.
