High-End Online Retailers Net-A-Porter, Yoox Officially Tie The Knot

It seems like just yesterday we were dreaming of a mega-luxury online retail platform where we could buy all the designer brands our wallets will never be able to afford. That’s probably because it was one day ago that reports began to swirl that online merchants Yoox and Net-A-Porter were thinking of merging to create one big high-end shopping destination on the interwebs.

Those talks appear to have escalated quickly, as Yoox confirmed this morning that it has clinched a deal with Net-A-Porter to create a “business combination.” The financial aspects of the deal were not made public.

The merger creates a new group to be known as Yoox Net-A-Porter Group with expected revenue of $1.4 billion. Under the deal, the new company is expected to attract nearly two million high-spending customers and over 24 million monthly visitors worldwide.

Both Yoox and Net-a-Porter – which is owned by Swiss company Richemont – launched in 2000 as a way to provide more upscale brands in one place.

However, the two companies took a decidedly different approach to doing so.

London-based Net-a-Porter showcases its products much like one might see while thumbing through a fashion magazine, while Yoox focuses on buying overstocked or unsold items from previous seasons from high-profile fashion designers and then selling those apparel products for a discounted price.

“This is a game-changing merger between two pioneering companies that have already radically transformed the marketplace since 2000 and will now shift the industry paradigm once again,” Federico Marchetti, founder of Italian-based Yoox Group and the new CEO of Yoox Net-a-Porter Group says in a statement. “Together, we plan to expand on our many combined successes and industry breadth to strengthen partnerships with the world’s leading luxury brands and harness a significant untapped growth potential.”

The quick turn around regarding Yoox and Net-a-Porter’s merger are a bit surprising, considering just last week it was reported that Amazon was in talks to purchase Net-a-Porter for a hefty $2 billion. However, officials with Richemont tell Fortune that those talks never occurred.

To Create a Leading Online Luxury Fashion Retailer Worldwide [Yoox]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist