In one year Zalando has achieved a 70% growth in turnover. The online fashion shopping site, headquartered in Berlin and a successful media sensation of late, has released its second-quarter 2013 results, which recorded revenues of €437m (£372m) up 70% on results for the same period a year earlier. In the first six months of 2013, the total turnover amounted to 809 million euros, with a leap of 72% compared to the previous year.
In the first quarter of 2013 the company had instead archived a turnover up by 74%. “The summer season was not easy – explained Rubin Ritter, managing director of the company to Reuters – The discounts were high and summer arrived late. Since we haven't expanded into new markets recently, the relative growth rate will naturally decrease."
But Zalando, five years after its birth, can celebrate (and it has done so with a fashion campaign entrusted to the image of Bar Rafaeli) the success of a business model that has made the vast choice and competitive prices its forte : offers 1.500 brands and has a 120 square meter logistics center in Erfurt (Germany), the largest for shoes and fashion in Europe according to the company.
On the other hand, online sales of clothes and shoes have exploded in recent years and have become the most popular e-commerce category in Europe. Research firm Mintel has forecast that the market will grow by 14% in 2013 to 38 billion euros.
Inditex, owner of the Zara brand and listed in Madrid, and the Swedish H&M, listed on the Stockholm stock exchange, are also expanding on e-commerce and have recently launched platforms respectively in Russia and the United States. The market is expecting Zalando, whose largest shareholder is Swedish investment firm Kinnevik, to also go public. Always interviewed by Reuters, the managing director said that at the moment it is not in the plans but it is "an option for the future for which we want the company to be prepared" explaining that the company is now focusing on increasing performance in core markets .
In the meantime, the Danish fashion magnate Anders Holch Povslen, who entered with 10% last August, and the Ontario teachers' pension fund have also invested in the company.
