The pandemic revealed how much the fashion trade has to catch up in the online business.
(Photo: Getty Images)
Dusseldorf Peek & Cloppenburg wants to reposition itself. The fashion retailer, with headquarters in Düsseldorf and Vienna, wants to become “the leading omnichannel multi-brand retailer in Europe for fashion” by 2026. But first of all, Peek & Cloppenburg is transparent.
For the 2020 financial year, the company earned just over a billion euros net. That is more than 400 million euros and 28 percent less than before the corona pandemic. The profit margin before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization was minus 4.8 percent, the loss almost 50 million euros. The family company announced this on Monday. In 2019, sales had already fallen by 1.5 percent. At that time, however, the fashion retailer still made a profit of around 115 million euros.
The Viennese company, which has to be added, also had sales of 560 million euros, around 30 percent less. The Düsseldorf Society includes Germany, Switzerland and Western Europe, the Vienna Society Austria and Eastern Europe. The men’s clothing chain Anson’s is also part of the company. The group operates online shops under the names Fashion ID and peek-cloppenburg.de and, with Stylebop, online retail in the luxury segment.
For the current financial year 2021, which ends at the end of this week, Peek & Cloppenburg is again silent. When asked by the Handelsblatt, the company said that compared to the pre-crisis year 2019, a similar decline is expected as in 2020.
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The company continued to invest in its stores in 2021 and gained more than 21,000 square meters of retail space. Like many fashion retailers, Peek & Cloppenburg is challenged by the consequences of the corona pandemic: closings, the obligation to wear a mask and the 2G rule make business in stationary retail more difficult. At the same time, the pandemic revealed how much the fashion trade has to catch up in online business – including Peek & Cloppenburg.
Ex-Daimler manager Hert: Man with a lot of responsibility
The company announced that it had rolled out its pop-up concept in seven locations outside of the stationary sales areas in 2021, but that it was also affected by the effects of the pandemic. With the concept, Peek & Cloppenburg had temporarily opened outlet centers in various cities to sell excess goods.
The group is currently in a process of transformation. In the spring, the company took over the Danish department store chain Magasin du Nord. The topic of sustainability is also part of the transformation. However, the company has so far not published any figures or targets. Recently, Peek & Cloppenburg had hit the headlines with new personalities.
Former Daimler manager Edgar Hert – who came to Peek & Cloppenburg in 2018 and is responsible for overall purchasing – is now also responsible for IT, IBC, logistics, online business, customer loyalty, personnel and corporate communications.
At IBC (International Brands Company KG), Marcus Dieckmann, also from outside the industry, joins the company as part-time managing director. IBC is the division that takes care of the private labels. Brand specialist Dieckmann, who ran Rose Bikes for a long time, has now switched to the bicycle dealer’s advisory board. He will start his new role on January 10, 2022.
More: The Düsseldorf fashion retailer has brought Marcus Diekmann as managing director – but only part-time. Nevertheless, expectations are high