BERLIN – German online fashion brand Zalando has reported GMV (gross merchandise value) growth of 34.1 percent to €14.3bn for 2021, driven by strong consumer demand for online offerings and increasing partner adoption of platform services. Revenues grew by 29.7 percent to €10.4bn and achieved an adjusted EBIT of €468.4m, corresponding to a margin of 4.5 per cent.
Robert Gentz, co-CEO at Zalando, 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 €30bn by 2025.”
Zalando continues to focus on growth and expects 2022 GMV growth of 16-23 per cent to €16.6-17.6bn and revenue to grow 12-19 per cent to €11.6-12.3bn, with the aim to outperform the European online fashion segment in a volatile market environment.
In 2021, Zalando gained more than 10 million new customers and significantly expanded its reach to now serve more than 48 million active customers across 23 markets, including six new markets launched over the course of last year: Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia. Customers ordered more than ever before with 5.2 average orders per active customer.
With more than 5,800 brand partners and almost 7,000 stores Zalando’s Partner Program and Connected Retail share now accounts for 30 per cent of Zalando’s Fashion Store GMV, up from 24 per cent in the prior year. Zalando is on its way to achieving its target of 50 per cent of Fashion Store GMV attributed to its Partner Program and Connected Retail.
Zalando operates one of the largest online fashion logistics networks in Europe with 12 fulfilment centres in 7 countries. The company will add four fulfilment centres to the existing network by 2023, and the total capital expenditure in 2022 is expected to range between €400 to €500m.
