Despite inflation and the war in Ukraine, About You sees that European consumers are updating their wardrobes. However, growth still takes precedence over profit for the German fashion platform.
High investments
In the first quarter of its broken financial year, About You saw turnover rise by 19.4% to 504.1 million euros. This is a strong result in a difficult economic context. After a sharp drop in demand shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the e-tailer saw consumption pick up again across Europe, including in Central and Eastern Europe, during the quarter.
The operating loss was 28.8 million euros, a result of high investments in marketing and expansion, as well as one-off effects from the war in Ukraine. The investments paid off, says About You: the number of active customers rose from 9.2 million to 11.8 million. The average spend per purchase fell slightly, but the purchase frequency increased. There was “solid growth” in Belgium and the Netherlands.
The group confirms its outlook for the full financial year: sales growth of 25 to 35% and a loss that will be between 50 and 70 million euros. The group does not foresee any profit until the financial year 2023-2024.
