Germany-based Mytheresa joins the rising checklist of e-commerce retailers going public

MYT Netherlands Parents BV MYTE,
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Parent company of luxury e-commerce retailer Mytheresa Group GmbH has filed for an IPO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mytheresa is joining a growing list of e-commerce companies that have filed for public offering.

The company intends to list its American Depository Shares (ADSs) on the New York Stock Exchange to trade under the ticker “MYTE”.

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and JP Morgan Securities LLC are the primary insurers for the filing.

MyTheresa is committed to raising $ 150 million, a placeholder amount that is usually changed.

The company started with a Theresa store in Munich more than 30 years ago. Mytheresa was launched online in 2006.

Mytheresa was taken over by Neiman Marcus in 2014. The luxury department store filed for bankruptcy earlier this year and carried out a restructuring at Mytheresa. Neiman Marcus has since emerged from bankruptcy.

MYT Netherlands operates through Germany-based Mytheresa Group GmbH, a German limited liability company registered in Munich and a wholly-owned subsidiary of MYT Netherlands. MYT Netherlands was founded on May 31, 2019 and on September 7, 2020 MYT Netherlands named its place of effective management in Aschheim, Germany.

“We will take the position that MYT Netherlands is resident in Germany for tax purposes under German law,” says the prospectus.

MYT Holding LLC is a Delaware limited company and is the sole shareholder of MYT Netherlands prior to the offering.

Earlier this month, Poshmark Inc. also filed its filings with POSH to go public.

And ContextLogic Inc. WISH, -4.95%,
Parent company of the Wish app, started trading in December.

See: Poshmark IPO: 5 Things You Should Know About Online Market Before Going Public

Also: Wish says improvements address customer complaints about delivery and other issues

These companies are going public at a time when there is a massive shift towards online shopping.

Even before the coronavirus pandemic, more and more shoppers were going online to buy goods. When COVID-19 closed stores and kept shoppers at home, many turned to their computers and mobile devices to shop for everything from groceries to pajamas to housewares and electronics.

Amazon.com Inc. AMZN (+ 1.16%) and Wayfair Inc. W (-2.04%) are among the companies that saw stocks skyrocket in 2020 due to changing consumer behavior. Amazon stock is up 77.7% over the year to date, and Wayfair is up 163.6%.

But it’s not just digitally-focused retailers that are benefiting from the shift. Traditional retailers like Walmart Inc. WMT (-0.63%) and Target Corp. TGT (-0.77%),
The companies that have invested in both their ecommerce platforms and delivery options have also gained market share. Walmart shares rose 22.2% over the year and Target rose 37.6%.

The Amplify Online Retail ETF IBUY (-0.13%) rose 123.4% over the year, while the benchmark index S&P 500 SPX (-0.22%) rose 15.6% over the reporting period.

At the same time that COVID-19 presents an opportunity for some retailers, it has knocked down others and pushed ahead a year when the sector’s bankruptcies hit a 10-year high.

Read: 2020 retail bankruptcies hit their highest level in more than a decade, and experts say more are to come

Do not miss: Farfetch says luxury shopping has gone permanently online, stocks are jumping

Mytheresa will face competition from other luxury online retailers such as FarFetch Ltd. FTCH (+ 0.66%) and Amazon Luxury Stores.

In fiscal 2020, Mytheresa exceeded 486,000 active users and had net sales of 449.5 million euros ($ 550.7 million) in 133 countries. This emerges from a letter from CEO Michael Kliger, which is contained in the prospectus. Kliger came to Mytheresa from eBay Inc. EBAY in 2015, + 1.23%

Sales increased from € 379.1 million in 2019.

The average order value in the 2020 financial year was € 600 (approx. $ 735), compared to € 614 in 2019 and € 632 in 2018.

The company has existing relationships with well-known labels such as Alexander McQueen, Gucci, Prada and Valentino and operates in eight languages ​​and eight currencies.

The company Mytheresa Kids started in January 2019 and Mytheresa Men was launched in January 2020.

“Our customers are high-income luxury consumers who value quality and experience over price and curation over the breadth of the range,” says the CEO’s letter.

Mytheresa faces many risk factors that other retailers have highlighted, including the ability to keep up with fashion trends, manage inventory, and maintain good relationships with customers and the fashion brands it sells. The risks also include challenges arising from COVID-19, regulatory risks from climate change and Brexit.

MYT Netherlands is an emerging growth company and is permitted to adhere to reduced reporting and disclosure requirements which the company claims may be “less attractive” to investors. It will remain a high-growth company through the end of the fiscal year, with annual net sales reaching $ 1.07 billion.