About You goes on an austerity course

The online fashion retailer misses its sales targets and therefore cuts budgets.

The Hamburg-based online fashion retailer About You is setting stricter return targets for its marketing expenditure and cutting costs for advertising content and media. This was revealed in an annual report published on Tuesday. In addition, fewer people are to be hired in the non-technical area and logistics costs are to be reduced. The company, which has been listed on the SDAX since 2021, explains the cost-cutting course with "ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty".

On the stock exchange, the About You share price fell by 70 percent over the course of the year. Founder and Co-CEO Tarek Müller bought company shares worth more than one million euros. Despite lowered annual forecasts, he is optimistic about his company. "We also see the current environment as an opportunity for the entire fashion e-commerce sector," he says. "The focus is now on higher profitability instead of short-term growth; we expect a phase of market consolidation."

Despite the weak phase, the company continues to grow. In the second quarter, the mail order company, which was founded in 2014 as an Otto subsidiary, reported growth of 8.9 percent to 430.6 million euros. According to About You, it was also able to gain 26.8 percent more active customers. Their number now stands at 12.3 million, according to the press release.