Luxury Briefing: Post-acquisition, Lyst is focusing on AI search for luxury shopping

That’s why Lyst is investing in AI-powered fashion search through its April 9 acquisition by Zozo, the parent company of Japan’s fashion tech company Zozotown. While the announcement initially seemed like a quiet strategic exit for a company that had paused its IPO plans in 2022, the real story is what’s coming next, the company says.

In an interview with Glossy after the acquisition, Emma McFerran, CEO of Lyst, shared that Lyst is betting that taste-based personalization, not price or a platform’s scale, will define the future of online luxury shopping.

The Lyst team has been testing how customers respond when they can use language, rather than filters, to guide search. The company has been integrating AI tools into its core search function over the past year, with ongoing live tests beginning in late 2023. The tools, which do not yet have a branded name, allow shoppers to refine searches using natural language.

“We’ve already seen examples where customers [use a prompt] like ‘a longer sleeve’ or ‘a different color,’” she said. “These kinds of prompts are totally intuitive to a shopper, but most search engines wouldn’t understand them.”

Instead of showing what’s trending or most bought, Lyst’s goal is to reflect how people actually talk about fashion. The team is using large language models — the same foundation as ChatGPT — trained on product metadata, editorial insights and cultural references specific to luxury. “We think the discovery experience can be way more immersive,” McFerran said. “Different formats, different ways of exploring. We’re letting shoppers jump off and go deeper into different directions.”

The AI search builds on the platform’s existing personalization system, but shifts from filter-based navigation to something more fluid and language-driven. Customers are engaging with the new interface at higher rates than traditional filter tools, according to the company.

Founded in London in 2010, Lyst was one of the first shopping marketplaces to make cross-brand search its core product. Lyst generates revenue through a commission-based model, earning a percentage of sales when users click through and purchase from partner retailers.

In 2021, it was preparing for a public listing following an £85 million ($106 million) round backed by LVMH Luxury Ventures and Fidelity. But the e-commerce surge quickly gave way to tougher economics. In 2022, Lyst cut 25% of its workforce and narrowed its focus. Instead of chasing volume, it invested in product development and profitability.

By March 2024, the platform had stabilized with £50.1 million ($64 million) in revenue and narrowed its net loss to £510,000 ($652,000) from £23.7 million ($30.3 million). It also posted £443,000 ($567,000) in operating profit and reached $1 million in EBITDA. In April 2025, Zozo acquired Lyst, providing infrastructure and capital to scale the company’s roadmap. This includes expanding its AI-powered search and improving fit recommendations and personalization using Zozo’s technology and infrastructure.

Zozotown, known for its tech-first approach to sizing and UI, serves over 11.7 million users and carries more than 9,000 brands. In 2018, it launched the ZozoSuit, a spandex bodysuit available for purchase that could generate a person’s precise body measurements to help customers find accurate sizing across brands.

“They’re fantastic at UI, size and fit,” said McFerran, remarking on Zozo and the ZozoSuit. “We’ll absolutely explore how we integrate that.”

Other platforms are shifting, too. Farfetch, once seen as Lyst’s closest peer, was acquired by Coupang in late 2023 after a steep valuation drop. It subsequntly shut down its white-label FPS business to refocus on its core marketplace. Meanwhile, Canada-based Ssense has pulled back on international expansion in early 2024 due to cross-border logistics challenges. And the long-awaited YNAP acquisition by Mytheresa finally closed on April 23.

An emerging competitor is Daydream, the AI-powered shopping startup from Julie Bornstein, launching in spring 2025. Backed by $50 million in funding, Daydream will let users search across 2,000 brands using natural language prompts.

For its part, Lyst is positioning itself as a connective layer across channels, playing the role of search engine, taste interpreter and data platform. It doesn’t hold inventory. It simply aims to help shoppers make better decisions, whether they’re price-conscious, time-poor or trend-aware.

Lyst has also reshaped how it works with brands. The company’s quarterly Lyst Index now feeds into its brand strategy, editorial programming and co-branded campaigns. For example, after Coach surged to fifth place in the Q4 2024 Lyst Index, Lyst featured the Brooklyn bag across its editorial and email content.

“[Shoppers] who read our editorial are more likely to come back and engage, and they are absolutely shopping for the items they see,” McFerran said. “We’ve seen that, and we’re building around it.”

In-person industry events and brand collaborations are part of Lyst’s push to deepen its B2B business while staying consumer-first. Unlike marketplaces that rely on paid placements to surface product, Lyst wants to create a more natural sense of relevance, which is powered by AI but grounded in taste.

Mytheresa finalizes YNAP acquisition

The deal, which will bring together Mytheresa, Net-a-Porter, Mr Porter and The Outnet under a new parent brand called LuxExperience, received approval from the European Commission on April 14. As part of the agreement, which sees Mytheresa buying the companies from Richemont, Richemont CFO Burkhart Grund was nominated to join LuxExperience’s supervisory board. Mytheresa is expected to share more operational and strategic details in the coming days. What’s already clear is that YNAP’s backend will be migrated to Mytheresa’s proprietary platform, a move intended to bring consistency and profitability to banners that have long struggled under fragmented tech and uneven strategy.

“We are creating a global digital luxury group with enormous reach and relevance,” Mytheresa CEO Michael Kliger said in the February earnings call for the second quarter of 2025. The company posted €223 million ($239 million) in net sales in its second quarter of 2025, with 13.4% year-over-year growth and a 9.5% increase in average order value, reaching €736 ($789). Its top customer GMV in the U.S. grew by 34.7%. 

“Our clear focus on the high-spending, wardrobe-building top customers sets us apart and allows us to win market share and grow profitably,” said Kliger. “We have clearly demonstrated again that Mytheresa builds a community for true luxury enthusiasts and creates desirability through digital and physical experiences, which makes us highly attractive for true luxury brands to partner with.” To that end, the company announced on April 22 that it is Prada’s only e-commerce partner as more brands expand beyond their direct sales channels.

Executive moves

• Mario Grauso, formerly president of Holt Renfrew, Vera Wang Group, Joe Fresh and Puig Fashion, has joined the private equity firm Regent as operating partner of its fashion and luxury group, where he’ll shape brand strategy and creative direction across a portfolio that includes Escada, Club Monaco and Bally. Grauso will also be scouting new acquisitions for the Beverly Hills-based investment firm.

News to know

• According to WWD, Saks Global is laying off around 550 employees this week, including 300 from its corporate offices in Manhattan and Dallas. This move is part of a broader effort to streamline overlapping roles following its $2.7 billion acquisition of Neiman Marcus in December and to reduce costs by $500 million over the next few years.
• A coalition of seven NGOs, including ClientEarth, Global Witness and Friends of the Earth Europe, has filed a formal complaint with the European Ombudsman accusing the European Commission of rushing its omnibus proposal to amend the CSRD, CSDDD and EU Taxonomy regulations without public consultation or impact assessments. It’s a process critics say was steered by narrow industry interests and risks dismantling key pillars of the EU Green Deal.
• To celebrate Earth Day, Stella McCartney brought her globe-trotting Future of Fashion installation, spotlighting 24 years of material innovation, to London’s Old Bond Street. The exhibit features the iconic vegan Falabella bag introduced in 2009 and seaweed Kelsun knits, made with 96% conscious and 100% cruelty-free materials, from the summer 2025 collection.
• The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has revived a proposed data privacy class action against Shopify, ruling 10-1 that the Canadian e-commerce company can be sued in California for installing tracking cookies on shoppers’ phones.
• Mytheresa has expanded its partnership with Prada to offer womenswear, menswear and lifestyle collections to customers worldwide, making it Prada’s only global distribution partner just ahead of Mytheresa’s acquisition of YNAP. Together, the company will be rebranded as LuxExperience B.V. on the NYSE.
• Johanna Ortiz is bringing a slice of Colombia to Paris with a four-month pop-up at Le Bon Marché starting Saturday. It will showcase an exclusive 250-piece capsule collection, an artisan collaborations and a café corner, while reinforcing Ortiz’s commitment to Colombian production, despite new U.S. tariffs, and laying the groundwork for a future standalone store in the French capital.
• Louis Vuitton will unveil its cruise 2026 collection on May 22 at Avignon’s Gothic marvel, the Palais des Papes. This will be the first fashion show ever staged at the UNESCO World Heritage site. The French house will also fund a local illumination project as part of its tradition of supporting heritage in its cruise destinations.

Listen in

The Glossy podcast has undergone a refresh, with new episodes combining our Week in Review segments and C-suite interviews now dropping on Fridays. On the latest episode, the Glossy fashion team discusses the class action lawsuit against Revolve, the viral videos out of Chinese factories urging direct-to-consumer luxury shopping amid tariff fears and fashion’s growing presence at the WNBA draft. Later, stylist Brittany Hampton joins the show to discuss dressing No. 1 pick Paige Bueckers and the evolving relationship between women’s sports and luxury fashion.

Read on Glossy

Activewear brands like Under Armour are moving away from toxic materials. LuisaViaRoma deputy CEO on where luxury is moving now. Hermès and its U.S. price hikes will affect tourist spending. Perfumer Marc-Antoine Barrois launched his seventh perfume.