Zalando looks back on a successful year, with higher revenue, increased profits, and more customers. The company expects growth acceleration, driven by its successful ecosystem strategy. Zalando will also expand into three new countries this year: Portugal, Greece, and Bulgaria.
This was reported by Zalando in its financial statement. The online fashion giant had already announced in mid-January that it had found its way to growth again, with a 4 percent increase in revenue last year, after two years of declining sales. At that time, the figures were still provisional.
Three times more profit
Revenue growth reached 4.2 percent, according to the new report for 2024, while the gross merchandise volume (GMV) grew by 4.5 percent. Zalando ended the year with a net income of 251.1 million euros, more than three times higher than in 2023. The number of active customers also grew by 2.2 million, to an all-time high of 51.8 million consumers.
Zalando never had this many customers
Zalando attributes the strong performance to the “successful execution of Zalando’s ecosystem strategy across both growth vectors: business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B)”.
Ecommerce ecosystem
A year ago, when publishing the 2023 figures, Zalando positioned itself as an ecommerce ecosystem, shifting its focus from just B2C to also include B2B. The company now reports separately on both divisions. This shows that business revenue increased by 11.5 percent in 2024. According to co-CEO Robert Gentz, the new strategy is paying off:
‘Our ecosystem strategy is our exciting new North Star.’
Gentz continues: “It has already contributed to a strong financial performance in 2024, and we now accelerate our execution efforts and invest to capture future growth.” Zalando’s consumer division is still about ten times larger than its business division. The planned acquisition of About You is expected to transform Zalando into a B2B powerhouse.
Launch in 3 new markets
The updated loyalty program Zalando Plus will be further rolled out this year, following its introduction in Germany, Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Austria. Additionally, Zalando will become active in Portugal, Greece, and Bulgaria, expanding its coverage to 28 countries in 2025.
The company is expanding for the first time since 2022
This marks the company’s first international expansion since 2022, when it entered Hungary and Romania. The year before, Zalando launched in Lithuania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
Outlook
“In 2024, Zalando demonstrated that even in a rather muted macroeconomic environment, the company is able to find pockets of growth”, the report states. For this year, the company expects revenue and GMV growth between 4 and 9 percent, excluding About You.
