BERLIN (Reuters) – 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%-27% 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.
That shift will make it easier to scale up deliveries in response to shifts in demand, Schroeder said, adding that in