German fashion retailer Zalando says it had a very successful first half of 2014. Sales surged 29.5 percent to EUR 1,047 million in the first six months of 2014 against EUR 809 million in the corresponding period of 2013, according to a Zalando press release.
It said revenues also rose significantly in the DACH region by 21.2 percent year-on-year to EUR 594 million in first half of 2014.
The best turnaround was witnessed in EBIT margins which improved significantly by posting a growth of 1.2 percent in the period under review versus a negative 8.9 percent a year earlier.
According to Zalando, the DACH region continues to lead the way, posting a reaching a clear profitability of 4.6 percent.
The significant margin improvement was driven by all major cost line items, including cost of sales, fulfillment and marketing, Zalando added.
“Achieving a positive group EBIT margin in the first half-year is a major success for Zalando. Historically, our performance in the first half of any financial year tended to be weaker than in the second half,” said Rubin Ritter, Member of the Management Board.
The ramp-up of operations at the new fulfilment center in Mönchengladbach is on track and fulfillment efficiency has increased during the first half-year 2014, the retailer informed.
It also said that the Zalando mobile app has been rolled out successfully across all international markets, resulting in a mobile traffic share of 41 percent during the second quarter and over 3.8 million app downloads by the end of the quarter.
Zalando registered total visits of 323 million in the second quarter of 2014 compared with 294 million in second quarter of 2013.
It noted that active customers grew to 13.7 million at the end of the second quarter of 2014 from 11.6 million at the end of second quarter of 2013, which further improved marketing efficiency. (AR)
