Zalando Launches IPO Plan To Become Europe'S Largest Fashion Supplier

The Reuters and WWD reported that after months of deliberation, Zalando announced plans to issue 10% to 11% stake.

Industry watchers say the IPO can raise 750 million euros for Zalando, and the current exchange rate is about $984 million of capital, thereby calculating the company's valuation at least 4 billion 500 million euros, or 5 billion 900 million dollars.

If successful, Zalando will surpass the ASOS in the UK (now its market value is about 2 billion 700 million euros) and become Europe's largest fashion electricity supplier listed company.

The plan is all new capital and the shares of the original shareholders remain unchanged.

The existing shareholders of Zalando include:

Swedish

The founder of Rocket Internet's Samwer brothers (through European Founders Fund), Anders Holch Povlsen, DST Global (also a major shareholder of China's electricity supplier giant Jingdong), DST and Founders.

Among them, Kinnevik began investing in Zalando in 2010. In the past four years, it has increased its cash investment of 5 billion 500 million kronor (about 784 million 300 thousand US dollars), becoming the largest shareholder. Its current shareholding ratio is 36%.

Prior to the announcement, David Schneider, one of the Zalando co founders and management committee members, told WWD that the company is ready to expand its scale exponentially with the help of infrastructure and three major logistics centers that are independently designed and operated.

Business data:

Zalando, founded in 2008, initially sold only a few types of shoes. But after a strong expansion, it has become Europe's largest professional shoe shoe and fashion electronics retailer.

Its sales volume is expected to exceed 2 billion euros (US $2 billion 600 million) this year, and sales in the first half of this year increased by 29.4% to 1 billion 50 million euros (US $1 billion 440 million).

The US dollar data are calculated based on the average exchange rate in the converted period.

In addition, Zalando achieved its first operating profit of -1200 million in the second quarter of this year (a loss of 72 million euros in the same period last year), and sales of 546 million euros in the second quarter, an increase of 25% over the previous year (lower than the 35% growth in the first quarter).

Zalando currently operates more than 150 thousand products, including some private brands, of its more than 1500 brands in 15 European markets.

As of 2013, fashion sales exceeded footwear.

The company has 3000 employees in Berlin and 4000 employees in three major distribution centers in Germany.

The company's website has reached 300 million in the first quarter of this year. The mobile APP, which was launched in 2013, can now be downloaded in all major markets. At the end of the second quarter of this year, more than 3 million 800 thousand downloads were available.

The company's advertising is both original and cynical, making Zalando one of the most famous brands in Germany. The latest advertising has been released last week.

Zalando first used the strategy of free delivery and free return to reshape the German footwear industry and even the whole retail industry. In the future, Zalando will continue to innovate in improving the online shopping experience, such as testing the image search function on iOS APP.

Schneider stressed that the European market is still "excellent". Although other new markets may not exist, there is still an opportunity for Zalando to grow rapidly in Europe.

In August, Schneider once told WWD, "our focus will be on improving our existing market and customer experience."