Zalando, second quarter growth for B2c and B2b

Gross sales value rose by 5% to EUR 4.1 billion and revenues grew by 7.3% to EUR 2.8 billion. Zalando ended Q2 2025 on a growth track, well distributed both in the B2c business, which recorded a turnover of EUR 2.6 billion compared to EUR 2.4 billion in Q2 2024, and in the "newborn" B2b business, which reached EUR 262 million compared to EUR 234 million in April-June 2024. Profitability ratios were also positive: adjusted EBIT (adjusted earnings before interest and taxes) reached EUR 186 million, compared to EUR 172 million in the previous year, with a stable profit margin at 6.5 per cent.

The accounts of Zalando, which in the last year, after a declining 2023, began to reshape its business to react to market changes by launching the 'ecosystem' concept with a series of investments in B2B, was the public's response to the 'retail' business: the German platform, which was founded in 2008, gradually expanded the sphere of its lifestyle brands (with a focus on beauty and also on sportswear and activewear), also raising the level of available brands. In response, the number of active customers rose to 52.9 million, an increase of 6.1 per cent over the same period last year. Merit also goes to some of the tech "supports" to search and purchase, such as the virtual assistant for shopping, now active in opi more than one of Zalando's target markets, and a discovery feed based on artificial intelligence, launched in recent months. B2c profitability was also on the rise with an adjusted EBIT of EUR 174 million in the second quarter, up EUR nine million year-on-year.

"We are seizing the immense opportunities ahead through the expansion of our offering and long-term partnerships in both B2C and B2b," said David Schröder, Co-CEO of Zalando. In B2C, Zalando continues to redefine the fashion and lifestyle shopping experience, making it more inspirational and personalised thanks to our new artificial intelligence-based discovery feed, thereby increasing customer engagement and supporting our advertising business. In B2B, the launch of our Zeos application for Shopify and our collaboration with About You's Scayle software unit represent important milestones in building a software ecosystem that supports the most strategic digital channel for our merchants: their own e-commerce."

B2b was driven by the double-digit growth of Zeos Fulfilment: the platform offers commercial and, above all, customised logistics solutions for companies (not necessarily present with their products on Zalando's B2c platform) that want to enter the European market and want to develop their business. The growth rates of B2b revenues continued to outpace those of the group: they rose by 12.2%, while adjusted EBIT was EUR 11 million, with the margin increasing by 1.3 percentage points to 4.3%.

The quarterly report shows a generalised increase in operating expenses - including marketing and restructuring costs - which weighs on both cash flow and liquidity. Hence the market's reaction: the stock, listed in Frankfurt, lost almost 6 per cent at 12 noon on 6 August (i.e. the day after the results were announced).