Online fashion firm Boozt ups outlook again, but Amazon looms
21/08/2020 09:16
STOCKHOLM, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Swedish online fashion
retailer Boozt BOOZT.ST raised its 2020 profitability forecast
for a second time in two months on Friday, after second-quarter
sales jumped as many shoppers stayed at home in the COVID-19
pandemic.
Boozt and other Nordic retailers are, however, bracing for a
pick-up in competition after U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon.com
AMZN.O said earlier this month it was preparing to launch a
Swedish site, confirming long-running rumours. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2F657F
Boozt said second-quarter sales rose 38% from a year earlier
to 1.22 billion Swedish crowns ($140.2 million) as its core
platform Boozt.com grew 29% and cut-price Booztlet.com - on
which the group has said it is increasing focus - jumped 168%.
Operating profit leapt 146%, to 120 million crowns.
"The migration from offline to online has accelerated and we
have worked hard to strengthen our market position," CEO Hermann
Haraldsson said.
"We welcomed more than 300,000 new Nordic customers to our
platforms during the second quarter and they, as well as our
returning customers, have increasingly shopped in our adjacent
categories to fashion, such as kids, sport, and beauty. Men also
increased its share of revenue," he said.
Boozt's shares were up 7% in early trade, taking their
year-to-date rise to 116%.
Physical stores in the Nordic countries have largely not
been forced to shut down during the pandemic, but other
government restrictions and wariness among consumers have
reduced footfall to varying extents.
Boozt, which does around 95% of business in the Nordics,
forecast a full-year operating margin of 3.5-4.5%. In June it
had forecast a margin of 3-4% on sales growth of 20-25%, a sharp
increase on its previous projections.
($1 = 8.7003 Swedish crowns)
(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom; Editing by Mark Potter)
((anna.ringstrom@thomsonreuters.com; +46 8 502 423 74; Reuters
Messaging: anna.ringstrom.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))