Zalando delivers ‘faster than expected’ sales growth

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Zalando has posted strong full-year sales and profit growth, fuelled by a rapidly expanding customer base and membership scheme.

Zalando Berlin

Zalando gained more than 10 million new customers during the financial year

Zalando posted an 11.3% rise in adjusted group EBIT to €468.4m (£391.4m) in its 2021 financial year, spurred by a 29.7% surge in revenue to €10.4bn (£8.7bn).

The online fashion retailer said that it grew “significantly faster than expected” during its financial year driven by “continued strong consumer demand for online offerings”.

Zalando gained more than 10 million new customers during the financial year, driving its active customer base to more than 48 million across 23 markets, with an average of 5.2 orders per active customer.

Its membership programme, Zalando Plus, surpassed more than 1 million members in early 2022 and the retailer plans to expand the number of markets it is available in to drive further growth.

Zalando Plus members visit Zalando twice as often and spend three times more than non-membership shoppers.

Sales on Zalando’s sustainable fashion platform accounted for 21.6% of the group’s annual gross merchandise value (GMV) in 2021, up from 16% the previous year, as the retailer expanded its assortment to more than 140,000 products – up from 80,000 a year prior.

Zalando co-chief executive Robert Gentz said: “We are very pleased with our strong results, which demonstrate that we have the right strategy in place to succeed irrespective of the market environment.

“Our new customer growth and strategic progress in 2021 underline the immense opportunity ahead of us. Leveraging our platform business model, we are in a strong position to achieve our GMV goal of more than 30 billion euros by 2025.”