Zalando is growing in Italy but aims higher and higher – Corcom

FASHION ONLINE

Mila Fiordalisi

  A growing business of online fashion Zalando platform in Italy and the company continues to push the accelerator on the strengthening of the offer as well as on the improvement of the service in terms of delivery times and customer benefits. The second half of 2016 ended with revenues at an altitude of 916m, with adjusted EBIT margin of 8.8%, and revenues amounted to € 1,713 million, with adjusted EBIT margin of 5.9%.

 The first half results have prompted Zalando to confirm the guidance for the year, with revenue growth in the high part of the corridor of 20-25% and an EBIT margin of 4.0-5.5% adjusted. The company also aims to an almost neutral operating capital at the end of the year, and expects about 200 million euro of capital expenditure in 2016, excluding mergers and acquisitions. The strong operating leverage – says the company – offset the investments made and has been the key factor in determining the profits of the first half of the year. Combined with a solid working capital it has also resulted in a positive cash flow of 50 million euro. “Despite significant investments in our long-term strategy, the business has proved even more solid and profittabile” says Rubin Ritter, the Management Board Member.

 It grows also the logistical capacity: the construction of Lahr stock proceeds as planned and started at the first test. And the first of Stradella satellite warehouse, which began operations in early 2016, already allows to cover 60% of Italian orders. With regard to Italy “initiatives undertaken in the first half of 2016 made it possible to further enhance the offer- underlines the country manager Giuseppe Tamola -. In particular, the opening of a satellite Stradella stock has considerably reduce delivery times, with over 60% of orders for Italy processed at the new facility. Thanks to the launch of Zalando Privé also we expanded the offer to pay more attention to the offers customers. On the side of convenience now we aim to further improve the returns process by integrating this function in the warehouse of Stradella. We are also preparing for the campaign in September, start to a season which will see a new fashion, starting from the preview collections by Marni and Gigi Hadid x Tommy Hilfiger during Bread & amp; Butter. “

 The success of Zalando was also supported by investments in human resources. Compared to June 2015 the number of employees has grown from 9,079 to 10,639. At the end of the second quarter, the technology team was made up of 1,340 employees in seven locations, with about 2,200 applications received each month. Growth was also supported by key acquisitions like those of Tradebyte Software GmbH and Amaze, with the aim of expanding the offer for partners and improve marketing skills.

© ALL rIGHTS RESERVED 11 August 2016

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