The New Luxury

At $3.4 billion, Richemont’s offer to buy online luxury group Yoox Net-a-Porter is a pricey sign of the times. Competition to embrace digital e-commerce and technology has defined the growth strategies of other luxury groups, Kering and LVMH, as Richemont has stayed behind. Yoox Net-a-Porter, meanwhile, has two online luxury rivals in Farfetch and MatchesFashion — the former is most likely headed to an IPO this year, while the latter sold to private investors for $1 billion in September.