What’s the winning philosophy of e-commerce leader and market innovator Mytheresa? Agnese Lenni, Digital Strategy for Fashion student, with the support of Polimoda teacher Beatriz Barros, interviews Mytheresa Chief Commercial Officer Simon Tweed on curation as strategy, emotional loyalty through personalization, and purposeful technology adoption in the digital e-commerce sphere.
Looking back at the core ideas you shared during the lecture, which are the strategic pillars and values that give competitive edge in digital luxury retail and how is Mytheresa responding to their evolution?
The strategic pillars for digital luxury revolve around engaging with the wardrobe-building luxury customer. Mytheresa does this in numerous ways, particularly through its curation, its brand portfolio, and its highly personalized service for high spenders, such as our dedicated personal shopping teams and our offsite experiences with brand partners.
Mytheresa is globally recognised for its curated luxury perspective. From a commercial standpoint, how is the concept of curation reflected on Mytheresa’s strategy and execution when it comes to buying, customer segmentation and brand positioning in an increasingly homogenous digital market?
Our brand count within womenswear has remained very consistent over many years, meaning that we focus more on depth rather than width within the brands we carry. We drive growth by strengthening our existing brand relationships, rather than increasing revenue through additional brands. This approach allows us to remain highly curated even as we scale. Within our brand portfolio, we continuously increase spend in the areas where we see our wardrobe-building luxury shoppers investing most. We apply this same philosophy across our other departments, including menswear, kids, and life.
Curation has traditionally relied on physical and sensorial cues. What does it mean to make curation feel digital-first, especially on mobile? Which elements are non-negotiable to preserve emotional luxury in an online environment?
We are very focused on how our products are presented across all key areas of our website where customers browse and shop. Our internal teams manually merchandise areas such as new arrivals and designer pages to ensure the selection remains relevant and inspirational. We carefully map the customer journey and are highly deliberate about which products customers see at each touchpoint. This human-led approach to our on-site assortment is essential to maintaining the look, feel, and emotional depth of our curation.
Partnerships with luxury brands are central to Mytheresa’s model. Which conversations or directions around digital exclusives, collaborative drops or immersive storytelling are becoming most relevant today?
We have always been committed to offering customers something truly unique, which is why we place a strong emphasis on securing exclusives with our brand partners. In terms of collaboration scale, larger multi-category or departmental capsules, such as those we create with brands like Dolce&Gabbana, allow us to deliver distinctive storytelling moments and meaningful differentiation.
From your vantage point, what has truly changed in the behavior of top luxury customers post-pandemic? How is Mytheresa answering to these new expectations on service and how does this define the company’s approach on emotional loyalty nowadays?
From our perspective, and this is reflected in the financial results of many brands,the luxury market has become increasingly dependent on wardrobe, building luxury customers rather than aspirational ones. These customers have always been at the core of our strategy. Today, our focus is on engaging with as many of them as possible in person, either through our events or via our personal shopping teams, allowing us to tailor our offering precisely to their needs and deepen emotional loyalty.
Luxury customers are now fluid across platforms and touchpoints. How is Mytheresa shaping a seamless journey that preserves exclusivity and emotional resonance, even as interactions take place in a multitude of channels, both digital and physical?
With our top customers, our priority is direct interaction, either in person at events or through our personal shopping teams. Each client is assigned a dedicated personal shopper, ensuring consistency and a deeply personalized relationship, with communication tailored to the customer’s preferred channel. Where a direct relationship is not yet established, our focus is on speed and ease of access to the products customers love. A key driver of this is our app, where an increasing share of our customers shop and where we continuously refine the journey. This mobile-led approach ensures we are always present with our customers, wherever they are in the world.
Sustainability is becoming inseparable from luxury. How do you integrate responsible practices into digital touchpoints and commercial moments without compromising convenience, speed, or the sense of exclusivity?
We began publishing our sustainability approach in our Positive Change Report in 2022, where we document our journey and outline the commitments we are making to reduce our impact. From a customer journey perspective, our goal is to inform customers about the environmental impact of their choices seamlessly, without compromising speed or convenience. We introduced a Product Journey section on select product pages, providing insights into how a brand performs in our responsible sourcing assessment. Additionally, we offer customers the option to offset shipping and returns, complementing the offsets we already undertake as a company.
At a leadership level, how do you determine whether a new technology is a strategic investment or simply “innovation noise”? Which market signals, KPls and customer insights guide your evaluations?
We consistently assess the speed of engagement with a technology and the feedback we receive from customers. Technology can often provide strong solutions to improve existing processes, and internal efficiency is always a priority. This is how we approach Al: using it to enhance processes that ultimately lead to better selections and more meaningful customer interactions, rather than replacing those interactions with technology.
Looking ahead, how do you see the role of digital strategists evolving in luxury retail, and which skills or mindsets would you consider essential for someone entering this field today?
The challenge has always been, and will continue to be, meeting and exceeding customer expectations in terms of product offering and service quality. With Al adoption in retail still at an early stage, understanding how new technologies will replace traditional customer journeys, and how a company can position itself at the center of these evolving journeys, will be critical for future digital strategists.
CREDITS
Interview by:Â
- Agnese Lenni, Digital Strategy for Fashion student
With:
- Beatriz Barros, teacher
Cover image and photos by:Â
