The founders of MyTheresa.com are launching the Martha Louisa luxury shoe wholesale online store.

The founders of the large luxury online store MyTheresa.com Susan and Christoph Botchen are returning to the retail business with a new project, writes businessoffashion.com.

A new project for business spouses is launched three years after the sale of MyTheresa.com to the Neiman Marcus Group corporation for 150 million euros. The launch of the new wholesale online store for luxury women's shoes Martha Louisa is scheduled for March, the creators promise that the design of the online platform will be in pink.

Suzanne and her husband Christophe opened their first Theresa boutique in Munich in 1987, and by 2006 the business had grown to become a powerful multi-brand online store for fashionable luxury clothes, shoes and accessories.

Entrepreneurs have chosen the right time to start in the luxury e-commerce market, which analysts from the American international consulting company Bain & Company predict will account for up to 2025% of sales in the luxury goods segment in 25.

According to Bain, luxury shoes are a fast-growing category, whose share in the online sales segment is up to 10% - about 18 billion euros in 2017.

At the same time, there are still very few specialists and professional online stores in the field of online shoe sales.

But, despite the presence of a free niche in the market, barriers to entry into the luxury market are very high. Creating an accurate coordinated system that could quickly manage international procurement and logistics is a very difficult task and requires significant financial investments. Attracting consumers to the site also requires considerable costs and painstaking work.

The wholesale sales model on the Martha Louisa website has its advantages and disadvantages. In the wholesale business, it’s easier to monitor the product and track the interaction with the end user. In this business there is a warehouse component, it requires a large working capital.

At the same time, the wholesale model is under certain pressure from online stores of the b2c format, as brands are more interested in working with platforms that offer goods directly to customers, such as Farfetch. Such sites charge a commission for sales through their resource without prior purchase of goods and without the possibility of storage, but promotion through these resources contributes to a rapid increase in market share.

Nevertheless, the presence of good relations with brands and the resounding success of the previous project of four Botchen entrepreneurs gives chances for the success of their new Internet platform.

Prior to making the final decision to launch the site, the Botchins tested the Martha Louisa concept with their main suppliers, including Prada, Miu Miu, Gucci and Saint Laurent.

Brands such as Balenciaga, Aquazzura, Bottega Veneta, D&G, Fendi, Ginvito Rossi, Valentino, Proenza, Schouler, Salvatore Ferragamo and Stella McCartney are also invited to collaborate. “Most brands already have a very strong presence online, so it's a miracle that we were able to get them involved,” says Susan.

Not very well-known shoe brands will also be presented in the Martha Louisa online store, such as Aeyde, Brother Vellies, Le Monde Beryl, Marais USA, Trademark, Vibi Veneza and others.