As luxury brands double down on direct-to-consumer [DTC], multi-brand retail is being pulled in two directions at once.

On the one hand, wholesale remains essential for reach, discovery, and market entry — and our research shows it continues to play a meaningful role in conversion. On the other, it sits uneasily within an industry increasingly focused on controlling customer relationships, pricing, and experience.

The result is a channel under pressure. Brands are reducing doors, renegotiating terms, and becoming far more selective about where and how they show up. Retailers, meanwhile, are being forced to evolve from scale-driven distributors into curators and cultural gatekeepers.

“As brands prioritize direct-to-consumer, our value proposition is less about simply being a wholesale partner and more about being a highly strategic partner for discovery, brand elevation, and access to a very valuable customer base that is difficult for brands to acquire on their own,” says April Hennig, president of New York-based luxury retailer Moda Operandi.

Proponents of wholesale highlight that the pivot toward DTC was partly driven by necessity. Many brands accelerated investment into direct channels after the post-pandemic luxury boom began to slow, while weaker online growth and surging customer acquisition costs exposed challenges in the multi-brand model. As retailers grew more reliant on discounting to drive sell-through, brands lost control over pricing and distribution. DTC offered greater stability and visibility.

“A lot of the chaos we’ve seen in the multi-brand market was a result of mismanagement,” says Elizabeth von der Goltz, chief revenue officer at Poshmark, whose career has spanned retailers including Bergdorf Goodman, Net-a-Porter, Matches, and Farfetch. “It wasn’t that people didn’t want to shop in that environment.”

Our research shows multi-brand environments remain important for customers. When we surveyed shoppers on where they purchased luxury items in the last six months, department stores came out top — selected by 59% of respondents — followed by brand-owned websites (52%) and mono-brand stores (47%), with online multi-brand retailers close behind at 44%.

Focus groups suggest that multi-brand environments become especially relevant in specific scenarios: when traveling, when seeking access to brands unavailable locally, or when looking for broader assortments across categories and price points. In markets such as Mexico, for example, department stores remain essential because many global luxury brands still have a limited standalone retail presence.

“If I’m traveling, I prefer larger stores like Galeries Lafayette and Bloomingdale’s — it’s more fun, there are more experiences. I love discovering new fashion and brands,” said one respondent based in Saudi Arabia.

The rise of DTC has therefore not replaced wholesale so much as changed what brands expect from it. “There’s been a gradual shift from the top luxury brands and holding companies toward controlling the customer and the data, but they’re still keeping wholesale because it remains a key marketing channel,” says Stéphanie Smith, founder and CEO of wholesale scheduling and CRM platform Modaresa. “Yes, you’re giving margin away, and yes, you have less control of the customer data. But piercing through on DTC is so difficult now; the cost of paid ads is obscene.”

Nevertheless, to convince brands to take a risk on wholesale today, retail partners have to raise the bar, with full-price strategies, reliable payment terms, visibility into customer data — and by offering an experience brands cannot easily replicate themselves.

“Brands need to feel that the experience, the editorial, the curation, is so special and different that it brings them in front of customers that might never find them otherwise,” says von der Goltz.

Step 1: Prioritize partners with a point of view

As choice explodes across DTC, wholesale, marketplaces and resale, curation becomes more valuable than ever.

Our research suggests consumers expect multi-brand environments to deliver tighter edits and a sense of cultural relevance that cuts through the noise. Spaces such as Dover Street Market are repeatedly cited by consumers as examples of multi-brand retail done well — environments that feel distinctive, editorial, and culturally engaged.

“Knowing your customer really, really well” is now critical, says Lisa Aiken, Vogue’s executive fashion director and Condé Nast’s SVP of fashion and lifestyle shopping. Traditional department stores were built to appeal to broad geographic audiences, whereas digital retail increasingly rewards specificity, she adds. Retailers such as Mytheresa and Revolve Group-owned Fwrd have succeeded, in part, because they maintain a highly defined view of their customer, rather than attempting to cater to everyone at once.

It’s not an easy balance to strike. Focus groups also suggest that one of the biggest frustrations with department stores is the lack of breadth within concessions. Luxury shoppers say selections can often feel commercially driven or incomplete. At the same time, retailers face rising pressure to predict demand in a far less predictable environment, where viral moments, celebrity placement, and the algorithm can rapidly influence demand.

“You’re assorting across maybe 100 styles in a collection and narrowing it down to 20,” says Aiken. “Doing that when you don’t know what’s going to land on social or with a celebrity is one of the hardest parts of the business now.”

At Paris-based department store Printemps, chief merchandising officer Maud Barrionuevo describes a move toward more concept-driven assortments, alongside a greater emphasis on experience. “The offer is today more exclusive, more selective, more curated,” she says, pointing to themed edits and localized assortments tailored to each market, such as an edit of niche French beauty brands in the New York store.

Moda Operandi ties curation closely to exclusivity and early access. The retailer allows customers to pre-order next-season clothing and accessories straight from the runway, often months before they are available in-stores. Alongside established brands, it provides access to hard-to-find or exclusive labels in the US market that are yet to scale their DTC presence, such as La Veste or De La Vali. It also partners with emerging brands on exclusive product.

“We sit in a space that most brands still struggle to replicate themselves: a highly curated, editorialized luxury environment that drives desire and demand,” says Hennig.

For von der Goltz, the differentiator lies in offering products that feel both exclusive and editorial. “A brand’s own store will buy for the customer that’s there, whereas a beautiful, high-end luxury multi-brand store is going to have special pieces — the ones that really show who a brand is,” she says.

Step 2: Adapt to the fragmented discovery journey

Curation may be more important than ever in luxury — but retailers can no longer assume discovery begins and ends within their own environments.

Today’s path to purchase is fragmented: a shopper might first encounter a product through TikTok, an AI search prompt or an affiliate-driven shopping edit, browse a multi-brand retailer to compare options and validate their choice, and then complete the purchase somewhere else entirely.

Vogue Business’s consumer survey highlights the extent to which discovery is spread across a mix of traditional editorial sources, social platforms, commerce ecosystems, and emerging AI tools — often simultaneously. Magazine and newspaper articles rank as the single biggest discovery source, with 42% of respondents citing it as the key tool in their purchase journey, ahead of mono and multi-brand e-commerce sites (39%) and social media (37%). The survey also highlights the emergence of AI as a new discovery layer. Though still relatively young, 10% of respondents already use AI search tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Anthropic’s Claude to discover products and brands.

Exclusive affiliate data from Vogue Shopping confirms that editorial and recommendation-driven environments are playing a growing role in directing consumers toward mutli-brand retailers. Click-through rates to platforms including Bloomingdale’s, Mytheresa, Nordstrom, Net-a-Porter, and Ssense have all risen year-on-year in the US, suggesting that more and more consumers are arriving via trusted editorial pathways rather than directly to retailers.

Multi-brand retail is therefore becoming less about owning the experience end-to-end, and more about shaping consideration along the way.

“Once upon a time, you’d go to a retailer and scroll and scroll to discover what you liked,” says Aiken. “Now, discovery is happening elsewhere. The research and inspiration component of the experience is getting further and further detached from the retail experience.”

This fragmented customer journey makes wholesale harder to operate effectively. Many buying and merchandising decisions are still driven by instinct rather than shared visibility into customer demand, even as trends become more volatile and algorithmically amplified. Modaresa’s Smith argues that this is where operational infrastructure becomes critical. “The industry is jumping to AI,” she says. “But AI is only as good as the underlying data and processes.”

Step 3: Build worlds, not just assortments

As discovery becomes more fragmented, retailers must translate brand desirability into environments customers want to return to.

Hennig says the best-performing brands on Moda Operandi are those evoking a broader sense of cultural momentum. “The brands that are most successful today are doing more than just creating great product,” she says. “They are creating a fully realized world: visually, emotionally, and culturally.”

For retailers, the opportunity lies in helping customers feel part of those worlds. In practice, that can mean offering exclusive product, editorial storytelling, early access, strong creator relationships, community-building, and personalized discovery experiences that feel “intelligent, emotional and highly tailored”, Hennig says.

Moda Operandi’s trunk show model taps into something that still matters deeply in luxury: the feeling of securing something special before anyone else. The fact that customers have to pre-order through the site and wait for delivery — sometimes up to six months — becomes a selling point. “Moda’s customer is not shopping purely for convenience — she is shopping for access, discovery, and an emotional connection to fashion,” says Hennig.

Luxury shoppers expect that same sense of emotion, exclusivity, and cultural relevance to carry across into physical environments.

From hospitality and exhibitions to personal shopping and cultural programming, the emphasis continues to shift toward experience-led bricks-and-mortar retail. At Printemps, this includes everything from exhibitions, rooftop skating, and foosball tournaments, to highly personalized services. “A multi-brand store must evoke emotion and create lasting memories,” says Barrionuevo. “We must constantly reinvent ourselves.”

But across the wider industry, there’s still work to be done. Many focus group participants said they preferred brands’ own stores to department stores, citing better service, deeper product knowledge, and a more immersive experience.

“I think department stores are more focused on tourists and foot traffic than relationships,” one France-based participant said. “I prefer a department store because they’re always offering points and loyalty incentives, but I would love something more curated, with less chaos,” said another, based in the US. “I only go if I have a mission, especially in New York.”

Von der Goltz says Asian retail continues to lead the way. She highlights Haus Nowhere in Seoul and Maison Dongliang in Shanghai as examples of concept stores combining fashion, hospitality and cultural programming in ways that feel immersive, not generic. “They make shopping exciting, which is something many retailers [in the West] stopped doing,” says von der Goltz.

Multi-brand retail is unlikely to regain the dominance it once held within luxury, but it is not disappearing, either. Instead, its role is being redefined around influence over scale. As brands prioritize direct relationships, wholesale is becoming more selective and experience-driven. Today, its value lies less in distribution and more in shaping discovery, comparison, and cultural relevance before the point of transaction.

“The market no longer rewards endless assortment alone: customers can find product anywhere,” says Hennig. “A highly distinctive point of view, strong curation, and deep customer understanding is essential.”

The new rules of multi-brand retail

What’s over: Treating wholesale as a scale-first distribution strategy. Relying on undifferentiated assortments. Assuming convenience alone is enough to drive loyalty.

What’s changing: Multi-brand retail is becoming more selective, editorial, and experience-led. Discovery is now spread across many touchpoints, with retailers playing a growing role in helping consumers evaluate and contextualize their purchases.

What wins now: Retailers with a strong point of view, disciplined curation, and memorable physical environments. Brands that treat wholesale as a strategic partnership rather than a volume channel. Platforms that combine editorial authority, customer insight, and operational discipline.

Spotlight on: Francis Belin, CEO, Mytheresa*

How are you navigating the challenges facing multi-brand retail?

I think there’s tremendous demand for multi-brand, but there’s been confusion about what clients are looking for. We have a very crisp view of who the target customer is, and we provide exactly what they’re looking for in terms of curation and assortment. We don’t buy everything. We don’t buy what the brands want us to buy. We buy what we think our customer wants.

In terms of service, we make sure that when you order at Mytheresa, you get your package as fast as possible. Returns are equally important.

The third thing, which is very distinctive for us, we [focus on] relationships and the emotional connection. We have a team of 85 personal shoppers around the world. We host amazing events with brands — almost one a week. It’s a relationship business. On one end, you have a very important relationship with brands that have their own DNA, their own strategy. And on the other end, our top customer, who we need to understand and serve the best we can. That’s the recipe that has helped Mytheresa to be successful.

How do you target VICs? In particular, how do you get the curation right?

We look first at who we want to serve and what these customers are looking for. It’s that simple. Which brands do they want? We have 250 brands: 220 in fashion, 30 in fine jewelry. Every season we add a few, we take out a few. If you’re looking for a black dress, we give you the best 20 dresses that we think are on the market today. You don’t have a thousand dresses. We don’t want you to be scrolling all the time.

We don’t want this relationship to just be transactional. Even if you’re a top customer, we won’t give you a 10% discount — our model does not allow it. Some [other multi-brand retailers] got carried away, ended up running out of cash. People don’t want discounts. They want great assortments, great curation. They want access to brands that are difficult to find.

What role does AI play in clienteling?

Technology is at the core of what we do, but it has to be flawless and invisible. Technology is here to empower and enhance, it is not here to replace.

If you think about personal shoppers, in the past they would have taken a best guess on the assortment they suggest to a client. AI can see what’s in [a customer’s] wishlist, their cart, what they’ve bought recently. The personal shopper is enabled by AI, but still fully empowered to take a shot on what they recommend. I don’t think we will ever replace that personal touch. This is what has defined our success in the past, and I believe it will define our success in the future.

How are you approaching expansion?

Expansion geographically is a big opportunity for us. The recipe for success needs a few tweaks, a few local adaptations, but it’s fundamentally the same. We don’t have to change the DNA to grow in Romania, Poland, Greece, Hong Kong, Singapore, or in the US or in Canada. We make sure we have the best brands, the best edits, a flawless service — which we constantly monitor — and meaningful relationships with our clients.

Categories is the second one. Womenswear is — and will continue to be — our strongest pillar; it is about 60-65% of what we sell. But when it comes to expansion, fine jewelry is one [opportunity], men’s is another one. There is no solid multi-brand jewelry offering online today, and even the offline offering is primarily in department stores. We started [selling fine jewelry] two years ago and it’s still a relatively small part of our business, but we believe that we have all the cards for it to be successful. It’s a category our top client wants — and we look for what they’re looking for.

*As told to executive editor Hilary Milnes during the Vogue Business Global Summit in May 2026 (edited for brevity).