Mango has said some of its key European markets are recovering quickly and are “very close” to reaching the pre-Covid-19 levels of the first quarter of 2019, its year of record sales.

The Spanish fashion retailer hailed its online channel as “key” to its recovery, with sales up more than 50 percent between March and June.

In the first quarter, sales in Belgium fell by 4 percent while in Germany, its third-biggest market, sales fell 10 percent compared to the same period in 2019. Sales in Russia, the Netherlands and Switzerland, all within the retailer’s top 10 for turnover, fell between 10 percent and 14 percent.

The company said that due to the quick recovery it now expects sales to be up on last year.

Strong online growth

“These markets have performed better than expected since the start of the Covid-19 crisis and this demonstrates the wisdom of our commitment in recent years to accelerate e-commerce and omnichannel initiatives,” Mango CEO Toni Ruiz said in a statement. “We are continuing to reap the rewards of so many years of effort and investment in the digital transformation of the company.”

Mango’s e-commerce site has been quite the success story since its launch in 2000. In 2019, it accounted for 24 percent of total group turnover, totalling 564 million euros – that’s a 26.7 percent increase compared to the previous year.

Last month, Mango announced it attracted almost 900,000 new online customers during the months of lockdown, increasing its active e-commerce customers to nearly six million. Between March and June, it registered over 140 million visits to its e-commerce platforms – a 20 percent increase year-on-year.

The company now expects to surpass the target it set itself at the beginning of the year for its online channel to account for 30 percent of sales this year.