Zalando, an online platform for fashion and lifestyle in Europe, reported revenues rose 27.4 percent in the second quarter to €2.03 billion.
Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) improved 33.0 percent to €2.69 billion. Adjusted group EBIT more than doubled to €211.9 million from €101.7 million while net income also more than doubled to €122.6 million from €45.5 million.
In the first six months of 2020, sales grew 19.6 percent to €3.56 billion. GMV grew by 25.1 percent to €4.72 billion euros (H1 2019: 3.77 billion euros) In the same period, Zalando achieved an adjusted EBIT gain of 3.6 percent to €113.3 million euros at a margin of 3.2 percent.
Zalando said it now serves more than 34 million active customers across Europe (20.4 percent growth year-over-year).
Following the strong growth in the first six months of 2020, and especially in the second quarter, Zalando said it will continue to invest in growing its active customer base and driving its platform transition. Key initiatives include the acceleration of the partner program, as well as the Connected Retail program, which allows brick & mortar retailers to scale their digital business which has proven successful during the first wave of COVID-19.
To be equipped to further invest throughout the pandemic, the company recently raised one billion euros in additional liquidity through the placement of convertible bonds.
Zalando Chief Financial Officer David Schröder said, “In the past months, we have proven the strength and agility of Zalando in many ways, no matter how challenging the environment. We have come out of the first wave of this pandemic stronger than we went into it as a result of our strategic clarity, our strong partnerships and an extraordinary team effort. Many of our partners have intensified their business on our platform in the last months, and we have managed to successfully grow together.”
Overall, brand and retail partners have significantly increased their activities on the Zalando platform over the past months. In the second quarter of 2020, around 180 new brands signed on to the partner program. As a result, partner program GMV grew over 100 percent compared to the same period last year. This is accompanied by a high demand for services, such as Zalando Fulfillment Solutions (ZFS). The volume of items shipped through ZFS grew 180 percent, as partners look for efficient ways to reach consumers across Europe as an answer to the accelerated shift towards online.
To help partners optimize their business, Zalando recently introduced data-driven tooling to provide a self-service environment for partners to manage their business on the Zalando platform.
Photo courtesy Zalando
