Retailer Zalando beats quarterly sales expectations as it taps on AI agents

Zalando SE

Tue 06:23

PARIS, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Top European online fashion retailer Zalando ZALG.DE on Tuesday reported third quarter sales slightly above expectations, citing strong demand for its business-to-business services as it tapped into AI agents for third-party sales.
Zalando said its third-quarter revenues grew 5.1% year-on-year to €3.17 billion ($3.55 billion), above the €3.15 billion expected by analysts polled by LSEG
The German company launched Zalando Extended, a platform where users will buy products from other online shops using AI agents on the Zalando app 
The platform will start as a pilot in collaboration with home retailer Westwing WEW.DE 
"Our shift to a platform business model is accelerating, with our partner business and retail media growing at a double-digit rate and B2B revenue up almost 28%", Zalando finance chief Anna Dimitrova said in a statement
Gross merchandise value (GMV), an important metric measuring the value of all goods sold, rose 7.5% to €4.54 billion
Quarterly adjusted operating profit (EBIT) rose to €106.5 million
Zalando sells clothes, shoes and accessories from thousands of brands including Nike, Hugo Boss, and Coach
($1 = 0.8937 euros)

 (Reporting by Alessandro Parodi in Paris, editing by Linda Pasquini)
 ((Alessandro.Parodi@thomsonreuters.com;))