In seventh heaven

The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting amplification of the trend towards online shopping worldwide provided a substantial boost for Zooplus AG, which was reflected in its results for 2020. Europe's leading online retailer of pet products brought its last financial year to a close with an 18 per cent increase in sales to 1.802 bn euros. The overall volume was thus at the upper end of the forecast of between 1.77 bn and 1.81 bn euros as set out on the company's Capital Markets Day.

A strong fourth quarter was responsible for the extremely positive result. Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, Zooplus boosted its sales by 20 per cent to 503 mio euros. In addition to the upbeat sales trend, the retailer also succeeded in expanding its gross profit margin to 30.4 per cent, aided mainly by the above-average increase of 30.4 per cent in sales of Zooplus's own brands, according to the company. Private label business now accounts for 16 per cent of total sales, up from 14 per cent in the previous year. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 51.5 mio euros to 61.3 mio euros, equivalent to an EBITDA margin of 3.5 per cent (2019: 0.8 per cent).

In 2020, Zooplus saw double-digit growth in all country markets. The online retailer points to the growing number of active returning customers as a significant success factor, and this number increased by 16 per cent to more than five million in 2020. Spending by these customers even attained a record gross value of 383 euros per transaction in December. Zooplus also stresses the very high sales-related resale rate, which grew from 91 to 99 per cent compared with the previous year.
"This forms an outstanding basis for further investment to achieve quality-oriented double-digit customer growth and to gain further market share in a highly attractive, fast-growing market," said CEO Dr Cornelius Patt, commenting on the record year of 2020. For 2021, Zooplus expects sales in the range of 2.04 bn to 2.14 bn euros and an EBITDA of between 40 and 80 mio euros, as already communicated on Capital Markets Day. From the current perspective, the board expects sales to be in the mid- to upper range of the sales forecast. In the next few years, the online retailer…