Zalando growth continued in 2019 as sales and profits surged

Zalando had plenty of news on Thursday with plans to enter the secondhand market and expansion of its premium offer. But it also shared its 2019 results showing that its continuing to grow fast.

In a year in which it fulfilled 145 million orders and saw its active customer numbers rising 17% to 31 million, the company said its gross merchandise value rose 23.6% to €8.2 billion and its revenues rose by 20.3% to €6.5 billion. Adjusted EBIT reached €224.9 million, up from €173.4 million, and net income reached €99.7 million, up from €51.2 million.

And the company expects gross merchandise value to rise between 20% and 25% in 2020, with revenue up between 15% and 20%. Adjusted EBIT should sit between €225 million and €275 million.

“We look back at a very successful year. We achieved strong financial results in every single quarter,” said CFO David Schröder. “While delivering those results, we have made strong progress on our strategic agenda.” 

In line with its platform strategy, Zalando also said it significantly grew the share of the Partner Program, which at the end of the year accounted for 15% of its Fashion Store GMV. And it added that growth was enabled through scaling services that make it easier for brands to be successful on the platform such as Zalando Fulfillment Solutions (ZFS) and Zalando Marketing Services (ZMS). In Q4, around 40% of Partner Program items were shipped through ZFS.

The company is continuing to invest for growth with those premium and secondhand developments and it will extend its European logistics network by opening a local warehouse in Spain. With this warehouse, it said it “will significantly improve its convenience offering and thereby unlock future customer growth in the region”.