Italian fashion retailer OVS' sales surge despite market contraction

23 Sep '21

3 min read

Pic: OVS/ Upim

Italian leading fashion retailer, OVS saw a strong sales growth of 35.4 per cent to €369.7 million in the second quarter (Q2) of FY21 over the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal, and up 11 per cent against the Q2 FY19. However, net income for the quarter ended on July 31, 2021, slipped to €318.2 million (Q2 FY20: €410.6 million).

“Sales grew in the last quarter compared with 2020, and, even more significantly, compared with 2019, despite a 4.7 per cent contraction in the market in the same period. This helped recover a part of the sales lost due to the lockdowns in the first three months of the year,” Stefano Beraldo, chief executive officer at OVS, said in a press release.

“All this resulted in a further increase in market share, which has now reached 9 per cent: OVS was also the fastest-growing group in terms of market share in the last quarter, including compared with international players operating only via digital channels, demonstrating that multi-channel remains a key factor in the market in which we operate and that our group is benefiting from this,” Beraldo continued.

The company said its online sales expanded 30 per cent compared with Q2 FY20 and by 77 per cent over 2019. Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter rose to €54.5 million (€36.1 million), while EBIT improved to €39.9 million (€21.2 million).

“The new third-party brands included in OVS’s commercial offering are attracting new customers, enabling both excellent cross-selling with the group-owned brands and better stock management in some product categories. Some of these, particularly in womenswear, performed exceptionally well, with sales per square metre also doubling compared with the average, making this the best performing segment over the quarter,” Beraldo said.

The clothing and accessories retailer has attracted around 12 per cent more customers in last one year, while numbers of customers purchasing both online and on the physical channel continue to grow.

“The group’s own brands are also enriching substantially the commercial offer, allowing the group to cover higher positioning in terms of quality and price, and therefore to increase sales density. A clear case of success in this context is the Piombo brand, launched last autumn/winter in the menswear segment, which also performed very well during the spring/summer period. This year’s autumn/winter collection saw the launch of the Piombo brand for womenswear, with early signs pointing to success in this category as well,” Beraldo further added in the release.

“The Upim business unit has also successfully pursued its expansion plan, increasing its presence with a local approach, both providing a complete local offering for day-to-day needs, and giving entrepreneurs with multi-brand stores, whose market share decreased also last year, a valid business alternative,” Beraldo concluded.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (JL)

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