Sustained growth: bonprix increases turnover to €1.76 billion in the 2020/21 financial year

The bonprix Group is growing profitably for the twelfth year in a row. The Otto Group's international fashion company has successfully concluded the challenging 2020/21 financial year (28 February 2021) and increased its sales revenue from €1.74 billion to €1.76 billion (IFRS). This corresponds to the stable sales growth of 1.4 per cent in nominal terms and around 4 per cent in currency-adjusted terms compared to the previous year, as forecast at the beginning of the second half of the financial year. bonprix is entering the new 2021/22 financial year with an ambitious target: the company aims to increase sales to at least a high single-digit level and will continue to focus on the expansion of digital technologies.

International development

The start of the challenging 2020/21 financial year was still marked by slumps in demand and sales for the vertically integrated fashion brand as a result of the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Through successful strategic and adaptive management of its market and product range portfolio, bonprix was able to increasingly compensate for these effects over the course of the financial year. ‘We recorded extremely positive development, particularly in the second half of the financial year, and once again grew strongly in the fourth quarter. We are very satisfied with the single-digit and double-digit growth rates in almost all markets and with the overall result,’ said Dr Kai Heck, Managing Director responsible for finance at bonprix, commenting on the figures.

Above-average sales growth was recorded in individual Western and Eastern European countries. One notable example is the Italian market, where bonprix has been present since 1992. Here, bonprix recorded sales growth of around 25 per cent to over £100 million for the first time, as well as over 60 per cent more new customers compared to the previous year. ‘In Italy, we are seeing an acceleration of digitalisation in society as a result of the pandemic and, with it, a strengthening of the trend towards online shopping. We are delighted that we have been able to convince Italian customers so strongly with our products and services,’ says Dr. Kai Heck, explaining the positive business development.

Strong double-digit growth rates were also recorded in Switzerland, Belgium, Czechia and Hungary – both in terms of sales and the number of new customers.

Germany, bonprix's core market and the one with the highest sales, also performed very well, particularly in the second half of the financial year, reporting sales growth of 15 per cent in the fourth quarter alone. Overall, a pleasing increase of 3 per cent was achieved compared with the previous year, on a high sales level.

Business in the USA with the local bonprix brand VENUS and in Russia remained challenging: both countries had to contend with currency exchange rate pressures and difficult market conditions. For example, demand for swimwear, VENUS's core product range, fell significantly due to pandemic-related restrictions on leisure and holiday activities. These effects led to results below the previous year's level in both markets, but a positive upward trend is already evident in the first quarter of 2021, particularly in the USA.

The Spanish and Finnish markets are new additions to the bonprix country portfolio. With the Finnish market, which has a strong online presence, the fashion company is further expanding its successful activities in Northern Europe, taking advantage of the positive multiplier and synergy effects with the two existing Scandinavian markets, Sweden and Norway. Spain, on the other hand, is a highly relevant fashion market in Europe, where the fashion brand sees great potential for its target group. Both markets are developing according to plan in the initial phase.

New product range preferences due to working from home and changes in leisure activities

The coronavirus pandemic has permanently changed the working and living environments of many people, which is clearly reflected in customer demand. Here, bonprix benefits from its wide product range. The entire financial year was characterised by a trend towards ‘casualisation’: comfortable fashion for working from home and leisure time was in particularly high demand. The children's fashion and homewares segments also recorded significant growth, which continues to this day. The strong lingerie range continued to perform at a high level and was in high demand across its entire range, with a focus on homewear and nightwear. By contrast, swimwear, business looks and festive clothing were less in demand.

Investment in technological development and digitalisation

The further development of the bonprix business model continues to focus on expanding digital expertise. The company is increasingly exploiting the enormous potential of artificial intelligence (AI) applications. One example of this is the Learning Collection, a forecasting system for optimised product range design. The recent migration of all data systems to the cloud facilitates the planning and implementation of further future-proof business intelligence projects.

Furthermore, bonprix is investing in the further development and internationalisation of its successful app. New features, user-friendly navigation, more personalised content and expanded international availability are set to offer bonprix customers even more shopping convenience in the future. The bonprix app is also at the heart of the bonprix retail concept ‘fashion connect’, which won a World Retail Award in the ‘Best Customer Experience Initiative – Retailer’ category in September 2020. Here, too, the app's functionalities are continuously optimised to make the completely digitally assisted shopping process in the Hamburg store as convenient and intuitive as possible.

Outlook for the current 2021/22 financial year

Richard Gottwald, CEO and also responsible for international sales, attributes bonprix's successful conclusion to the financial year despite the major challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic primarily to the fashion company's high responsiveness, broad international positioning and diverse product range:

We were able to respond very agilely to market demands throughout the financial year, which would not have been possible without the excellent cooperation across all departments and countries. I would like to express my special thanks to the entire bonprix team and our business partners in Germany and around the world.

‘Against the backdrop of the consequences of a global pandemic, the situation in international trade remains volatile. However, with our strong focus on the needs of our customers and the digital development of our business model, I believe we are well positioned to end the current financial year with growth in at least the high single-digit range,’ Richard Gottwald ventures a positive forecast.