The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
German fashion e-tailer Zalando sees growth accelerating next year, Chief Financial Officer David Schroeder said on Thursday, after struggling to meet a surge in demand in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The imposition of lockdowns in the spring pushed many shoppers online and Berlin-based Zalando raised its guidance for growth in gross merchandise value in 2020 to 25 percent-27 percent when it reported strong third-quarter results this month.
“For next year I can promise that we will be prepared for accelerated growth,” Schroeder told the Morgan Stanley European Technology, Media and Telecom Conference.
Europe’s biggest pure-play online fashion retailer is undergoing a transition from a wholesale to a platform model where it enables direct-to-consumer sales by brands like Nike and backs that up with order fulfillment.
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That shift will make it easier to scale up deliveries in response to shifts in demand, Schroeder said, adding that in its incarnation as a wholesaler Zalando had to source inventory as much as a year in a advance.
While he expects demand tailwinds caused by a second wave of COVID-19 infections to fade, structural changes such as a consumer shift from offline to online shopping and more direct sales by brands are set to persist.
“Our strategy is the right one for the pandemic but also for what comes beyond,” Schroeder said.
Zalando shares are up 75 percent in the year to date, valuing the business at €20.3 billion ($24 billion).
By Douglas Busvine. Editor: Mark Potter.
The algorithms TikTok relies on for its operations are deemed core to ByteDance overall operations, which would make a sale of the app with algorithms highly unlikely.
The app, owned by TikTok parent company ByteDance, has been promising to help emerging US labels get started selling in China at the same time that TikTok stares down a ban by the US for its ties to China.
Zero10 offers digital solutions through AR mirrors, leveraged in-store and in window displays, to brands like Tommy Hilfiger and Coach. Co-founder and CEO George Yashin discusses the latest advancements in AR and how fashion companies can leverage the technology to boost consumer experiences via retail touchpoints and brand experiences.
Four years ago, when the Trump administration threatened to ban TikTok in the US, its Chinese parent company ByteDance Ltd. worked out a preliminary deal to sell the short video app’s business. Not this time.