Zalando’s revenue grew to €1bn during first half of 2014

Zalando looks back on a successful first half of 2014, as revenues grew by 29,5% to 1 billion euros in the first six months. Revenues in Germany, Austria and Switzerland increased by 21,2% to almost 600 million euros during the same period. The online fashion retailer saw its EBIT margin improve thanks to major cost lines, including cost of sales, fulfillment and marketing.

While Zalando’s revenue grew from 809 million euros in the first half of 2013 to 1,047 million during the first six months of 2014, the company’s EBIT also improved significantly. The EBIT margin grew from -8.9% during the first six months of 2013 to 1.2% the same period one year later. This significant improvement was driven by all major cost line items, including cost of sales, fulfillment and marketing.

According to Rubin Ritter, member of the management board at Zalando, achieving a positive EBIT margin during 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.”

In the official press release Zalando also tells that the ramp-up of operations at the new fulfillment center in Mönchengladbach (Also read: Zalando’s logistics centre will be Europe’s biggest) is on track, while fulfillment efficiency has increased during the last six months.

Mobile app Zalando is a success
Zalando’s revenue can only grow even harder now it’s mobile app has been rolled out succesfully across all international markets. Mobile traffic share grew to 41% during the second quarter of this year and at the end of the same period the app was downloaded over 3.8 million times worldwide. Total visits to its sites grew to 323 million in the second quarter of this year (Q2 2013: 294 million, +9,86%)m while active customers grew to 13.7 million in the same quarter (Q2 2013: 11.6 million, +18,10%).

This new fall/winter season Zalando will be launching two new TV ads, which will be all about encouring women to express their own style. These ads will present the new Zalando, the company states. “More personality, more fashion, more fun. This will also be the start of many further changes soon to be seen at Zalando.” Also, this autumn Zalando will expand its brand range with the two popular British brands Topshop and Topman. Also read: Topshop and Topman partner with Zalando.