Zooplus accelerates growth

The Germany-based company increased its gross profit margin from 29.4 per cent in the same period last year to 30.7 per cent this year. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came to 24.5 mio euros in the first quarter as compared with 8.1 mio euros in 2020.
At the end of the first quarter, the sales-related resale rate reached a sector-high leading level of 97 per cent, having been 94 per cent in the first quarter of the previous year. The rate increased further to 98 per cent by the end of April, and in some markets and customer groups it was already above 100 per cent. The number of active returning customers increased by 15 per cent to 5.3 mio euros (Q1 2020: +14 per cent), Zooplus reports.
The online retailer attributes the increased pace of growth in the period under review primarily to its customer loyalty programme Subscribe & Save (sales up by 32 per cent). Sales transacted under this came to account for 54 per cent of the total sales to actively returning customers. At 532 euros per customer, sales per customer on the customer loyalty scheme were 83 per cent higher than for customers without Subscribe & Save.   

The private label business grew by 34 per cent in the first quarter (Q1 2020: 32 per cent) and attained a share of 17.4 per cent of overall sales. In the same period in 2020, the share was 15.1 per cent. The proportion of orders including at least one private label product likewise increased compared with the previous year, underlining the growing popularity of the Zooplus private labels with pet owners across Europe, according to the online retailer.
Based on the strong growth in the first quarter and the dynamic market trend, Zooplus has confirmed its forecast for 2021. The company assumes that the European pet supplies market will grow at an annual rate of 6 per cent to 49 bn euros by 2030. By then, the share of online retail in Europe will reach 38 per cent, equivalent to a volume of 18.6 bn euros in sales.
For the financial year as a whole, the company expects sales revenues in the range of 2.04 bn to 2.14 bn euros and an EBITDA of between 40 mio euros and 80 mio euros. This equates to an EBITDA margin of 2 to 4 per cent. From the current perspective and based on…