zooplus surpasses €1 billion in half-year sales for the first time

zooplus surpasses €1 billion in half-year sales for the first time

After the news of its upcoming €3 billion takeover last week, the European online pet retailer announces its results for the first half of 2021.

The growth the company, and the industry, has been seeing continues: zooplus’ total sales increased by 16% to €1,002.2 million ($1,172m), compared to €862.5m ($1,009b) in the first half of 2020.

Its loyal customer base continues to be the main growth driver.

The number of active repeat customers have grown to 5.4m as of June 30, 2021 (compared to 4.8m as of June 30, 2020) and the revenue retention rate was at 98% compared to 95% in the first half of 2020.

The loyalty program Subscribe & Save has grown by 29% in the first half of 2021 and contributed 54% to active repeat sales (H1 2020: 50%).

With €42.2m ($36.08m), EBITDA was significantly above previous year (H1 2020: €29.4m or $34.39m), resulting in an EBITDA-Margin of 4.2% (H1 2020: 3.4%).

Dr. Cornelius Patt, CEO: “The first half of 2021 has shown that increasing pet ownership as well as the growing trend towards online are here to stay across all major European markets. These trends are also accompanied by an increasing pet friendliness of both work and leisure environments, ongoing premiumization of food, pet care & accessories, and an increased digital mindset of pet parents. This is reflected in our sustainable growth trajectory in the first half of 2021 with sales exceeding the one-billion-euro mark for the first time in the company’s history. Backed by our stable growth figures and the robust market, we are highly confident that we will achieve the mid- to upper end of our full year guidance.”

Own brands & accessories

With a plus of 31%, the own brands business delivered above-average growth and contributed 17% to total sales (H1 2020: 15%). The share of orders with at least one own brands product increased year on year, underscoring the growing popularity of zooplus’ own brands with pet parents across Europe.

However, the total volume of pet accessories sales decreased to 13%, from 14% in the first half of 2020.

Backed by its H1 performance, zooplus confirms its guidance for the full year. zooplus expects sales of between €2.04 billion ($2.39b) to €2.14b ($2.5b) for the full year 2021 and an EBITDA in the range of between €40m to €80m, leading to an EBITDA margin of 2% to 4%.