Germany’s About You sees stock soar on improved annual outlook

German online fashion retailer About You YOUG.DE raised its full-year sales outlook on Tuesday citing strong second-quarter revenue growth. On the back of the news, the retailer’s shares outperformed the national benchmark index – DAX – as well as strong players including Puma and Adidas.

It’s worth recalling that the retailer went public in June this year and was added to the German small-cap .SDAXI index this month.

About You has reported second-quarter sales growth of up to 55 percent, and now expects to reach a full-year sales growth range of 48 percent to 52 percent.

About You competes with Zalando ZALG.DE in the consumer segment while its business-to-business platform is seen as competition for Shopify SHOP.TO, SAP SAPG.DE and Salesforce CRM.N.

About You outshines German DAX stocks including Adidas and Puma

As highlighted by a German trader, the raised yearly sales target for About You attracted investors to the shares of the online fashion retailer, lifting the stock by more than 2.5 percent. The fact that key data for the second quarter was also better than expected, contributed to the e-tailer’s shares strong performance on the trading floor on Tuesday.

Still in Germany, sporting goods manufacturers and athletic gear stocks were among the losers, with Adidas and Puma recording a minus of 1.7 and 1.5 percent, respectively. They were negatively affected by the raising concerns on increasing inflation around the globe.

Expansion to Spain and Finland accelerates

The retailer’s CEO, Tarek Mueller, told Reuters that the group is planning to ramp up its marketing activities in several European countries - from Spain to Finland - before the Christmas season. “Since our listing in June 2021, we have been laser-focused on executing on our strategic priorities to strengthen our core business, invest in our European footprint expansion, and scale our B2B business,” said Mueller in a corporate release.

“Right now it is a good time to expand,” he said, “People want to go shopping online.” He said that thanks to technology and a high level of automation, the group could ramp up in many markets at the same time.

According to the company’s CEO, “The successful ‘big bang’ launch campaign in Italy underscores the strength of our go-to-market playbook, which we continue to execute on during our third quarter. Due to the expected strong trading in the first half of the year and a start into autumn/winter season as planned, we are optimistic and raise our full-year net revenue guidance.”

Influencer engagement and limited promotions spurred About You’s Q2 sales

Lesser COVID-19 restrictions eased the return of fashion shoppers to the store across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. About You’s stores in that region saw increased net revenue growth compared with the previous quarter. Growth was further underpinned by accelerated marketing spending on the back of attractive payback periods after customer acquisition, explained the retailer.

Collaborations with influencers such as Kendall Jenner (“Kendall for ABOUT YOU”), further drove brand appeal and revenue performance, as highlighted by the company.

On the back of its international expansion, performance in other European markets with the fashion brand has a presence continued to generate healthy net revenue growth in the second quarter. Per the company’s financial update on Tuesday, all its Commerce segments, ABOUT YOU DACH and RoE, had a good start into the autumn/winter season in the third quarter of the financial year, in line with expectations.

Image: About You official website