Zooplus sets high growth targets

The mood at Zooplus is upbeat, as was apparent in mid-November at the Capital Markets Day, which was staged as a virtual event. The entire board of Europe's leading online pet product retailer volunteered information about fiscal 2020, about the company's strategy and about its plans for the future. Figures for the previous nine months had been presented in writing shortly before the event, and it was clear from these that online demand in Europe still remains strong and that Zooplus AG in particular is benefiting from this trend. In the first nine months of the fiscal year, the online retailer increased its sales by 18 per cent to 1.3 bn euros. Zooplus shone not only with regard to its core business of pet food sales; it also picked up on a growing demand for accessories, which had a positive impact on the gross profit margin. Zooplus puts its share of sales in the European online market for pet products at 40 per cent.

The company also improved its profitability in the first nine months of 2020. At 47.8 mio euros, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) attained the upper end of the projected range of 40 to 50 mio euros, which was based on provisional figures. Zooplus cites the business transacted with its core of loyal customers as a significant driver for the strong sales trend. This base has increased in number from 4.2 to 4.9 mio customers. In September, the sales-related resale rate achieved a new record high at 97 per cent, which was then surpassed in October at 98 per cent. As Zooplus demonstrated with the aid of figures at the Capital Markets Day, the shopping basket of existing customers has grown substantially within one year and is increasing with further purchases. Based on this data, the online retailer calculated that sales would reach 4.3 bn euros by 2030 at a resale rate of 98 per cent. If the rate fell to 91 per cent, however, on a par with 2019, sales would "only" reach 2.8 bn euros in ten years.
The company also highlighted its lower marketing expenditure compared with the previous year and the increase in gross profit margin of 30.5 per cent. It was still 28.5 per cent after nine months in 2019. Another pleasing statistic for the online retailers was that the group result, which was -10.6 mio euros in the first nine months of the previous year, rose to 15.2 mio euros in the same period of fiscal 2020.