LONDON – Lyst, the London-based procuring platform, stated Wednesday it has entered right into a definitive settlement to be acquired by Zozo, Inc., a Japanese trend e-commerce platform operator, for $154 million.
The acquisition, suggested by Rothschild & Co, is predicted to be accomplished earlier than the tip of April 2025.
Following the acquisition, Lyst will turn into a completely owned subsidiary of Zozo. It is going to proceed to function as a standalone enterprise primarily based in London, with Emma McFerran persevering with to function chief government officer.
Zozo stated the acquisition of Lyst will kind the cornerstone of its worldwide growth technique, whereas Lyst’s model authority and intelligence shall be additional strengthened by leveraging Zozo’s market management in Japan.
Since 2019, Lyst has turn into a reputable supply for the style trade on what’s trending with its quarterly model and product rankings. On a number of events, the rankings predicted the monetary efficiency of sure manufacturers, such because the hovering reputation of Miu Miu in current quarters.
Utahiro Inui, government director at Zozo, stated: “Lyst has constructed an distinctive platform that aligns completely with our imaginative and prescient of making extra inspiring, joyful procuring experiences.
“Lyst’s trade credibility and distinctive model voice, coupled with market-leading know-how and scale, means they’re uniquely positioned to redefine the house. Collectively, we’ll rework the way forward for trend procuring on-line as a part of our ambition to ‘Encourage the world. Ship pleasure on daily basis,’” Inui added.
Emma McFerran
DAVID WOOLFALL PHOTOGRAPHY
McFerran, who led Lyst to realize profitability for the primary time in 2024 amid the current downfall of a number of luxurious e-tailers, known as Zozo’s acquisition a win-win for its trend ecosystem of buyers and companions.
“Our house is evolving quick, and we share a imaginative and prescient with Zozo to construct a greater, brighter future for the trade, utilizing AI and know-how. With Zozo’s scale, experience, and help, Lyst shall be in a good stronger place to reimagine trend discovery on-line,” she added.
With Zozo’s help, McFerran stated Lyst will speed up its development and funding in AI discovery know-how whereas sustaining its enterprise within the U.S., the U.Ok., and Europe; three of its greatest markets among the many 190 nations and areas it serves, representing 30 %, 25 %, and 20 % of the enterprise, respectively.
With 160 million annual energetic customers, Lyst stated it has the most important trend assortment, with virtually 10 million in-stock merchandise on the platform. It companions with 27,000 manufacturers and retailers and exceeded a gross merchandise worth of 600 million kilos within the final monetary 12 months.
“We’ve acquired deep tech at our core, notably in AI-driven personalization. Zozo has plenty of strengths and issues like UI and dimension and match tech. There are alternatives for us to associate collectively and put money into our development,” stated McFerran, who joined Lyst in 2014 and has since risen by means of the ranks to turn into CEO in 2022.
“I’m happy with my workforce and what they’ve constructed up to now. They deserve all of the reward and celebration, so we’ll discover the correct methods to honor them,” added McFerran, who’s a part of a “small however mighty” workforce of 150 folks working from an workplace located not removed from the Tower of London.
In Japan, Zozo runs Zozotown, a trend e-commerce platform with 12 million annual clients. It supplies novel procuring experiences by means of its proprietary measurement applied sciences, together with Zozomat and Zozoglass. It additionally operates companies together with Zozofit, a 3D physique scan know-how, and Put on by Zozo, an outfit-sharing app.
