Global Fashion Group (GFG), a leading online fashion and lifestyle destination, has delivered net merchandise value (NMV) of €758 million in the fourth quarter (Q4) of fiscal 2021 (FY21), up by 19.8 per cent yoy. This was driven by an increase in average order value, as customers bought more items and those countries with higher average selling prices grew the fastest.
Marketplace grew by 42 per cent yoy in Q4 reaching 38 per cent of NMV. This, alongside GFG’s broadly stable retail margin, helped to deliver an increase in gross margin of 2pps to 46 per cent. The one-off COVID costs from operating the fulfilment centre alongside some additional promotional activity and a weaker trading environment in LATAM meant that adjusted EBITDA was €21 million.
“Over the second half of 2021 our trading performance across LATAM has been under pressure from the weakening consumer sentiment, especially within our largest market, Brazil. This is a large and attractive market and we have a well-established multi-brand platform. We have a clear plan to unlock the potential including a new customer front-end and steps to improve the delivery and returns process,” GFG said in a press release.
“Our people are at the heart of our business. We stand alongside all those affected and support the international community in coming together to end the conflict in Ukraine peacefully. Our priority is our 1,000 colleagues in Ukraine and providing them with essential financial and humanitarian assistance. We continue to monitor the situation closely, and will adapt our approach to supporting all of our people and our business in the CIS as best we can,” Christoph Barchewitz and Patrick Schmidt, Co-CEOs of GFG, said.
“We are proud of our global team’s continued agility and effectiveness in delivering our FY2021 results. Against a backdrop of new COVID-19 variants and slow vaccine rollouts in most of GFG’s markets, we continued to deliver growth across all of our customer metrics, including a 9 per cent increase in order frequency and 18 per cent growth in NMV per active customer. Combined with 24 per cent NMV growth and c.€14 million adjusted EBITDA, this is a true testament to our localised expertise. We remain confident in the execution of our strategic priorities to continue our journey as the leading online fashion and lifestyle destination in growth markets,” explained Barchewitz.
During January and February 2022, the group grew NMV on a constant currency basis by 23 per cent and, excluding CIS, grew NMV by 13 per cent. The elevated level of uncertainty in CIS on future customer demand, supply of imported products and potential operational, financial or legal constraints means the company is currently unable to provide guidance for FY2022. For other three regions, the company expects the demand environment seen in H2 2021 to continue into H1 2022 and progressively improve into H2 2022,
