Zalando sees first quarter sales step up by 74%

By

Matthieu Guinebault

Published
Jul 23, 2013

The German online retailer reported 372 million euros in sales for its first quarter 2013, despite unfavourable weather conditions and a late start to the summer season. Sales were up 74% on the company’s predictions.

"We are very pleased with these results - Zalando is a sustainable company and extremely well positioned internationally," said Rubin Ritter, Managing Director at Zalando. "The basis of our growth is the success in our established markets, whilst at the same time we are also seeing positive developments in the countries we have launched in recently."

In 2012, Zalando reported 1.15 billion euros in revenue, doubling its sales from the previous year, with a large part of the company’s growth down to investment in advertising, which this year included a T.V ad.

However, Zalando’s success is also driven by its product offering. Specializing in footwear, the company soon launched clothing before deciding to create its own collections. Whether it is with Zing shoes, luxury items from Emeza or the Kiomo collection, Zalando is gearing up to compete with retailing heavyweights like H&M and Zara.

Today the website carries more than 150,000 products from 1,500 brands. Now operating in 14 countries, Zalando entered the Swedish, Belgian, Danish, Finnish, Spanish, Polish and Norwegian markets in 2012.