LONDON — Global Fashion Group, the online fashion retailer that targets emerging markets, is planning an initial public offering on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, with the aim of raising 300 million euros.
As reported earlier this year GFG, which carries 10,000 brands including Adidas, Superdry, Mango and Banana Republic, and operates its own retail platforms in Latin America, Australia and Southeast Asia, had been mulling an IPO.
“We are excited about this next step for GFG. Today, most of our markets have less e-commerce adoption than Europe had 10 years ago and an IPO will allow us to keep investing in our end-to-end customer proposition, further strengthening our position as the leading fashion and lifestyle destination in growth markets,” said Christoph Barchewitz and Patrick Schmidt, co-chief executive officers of GFG.
Related Galleries
Money raised from the IPO will be invested in customer acquisition, tech innovation, and the fulfillment and delivery infrastructure, GFG said Monday.
The company’s infrastructure is expansive, reaching across four regions to provide delivery capabilities for the 8,000 brands it works with. It operates on a wholesale and marketplace model and offers next-day delivery in most markets.
“Delivery is very important and we have also innovated in ways like having drop-off points, because in some markets going to the post office is highly inconvenient. We want to have as little friction for the customer as possible,” Barchewitz said in an exclusive interview with WWD earlier this year.
GFG isn’t afraid to innovate and the company is constantly working on improving the digital shopping experience, especially through mobile as 70 percent of traffic across GFG’s sites comes mobile. “These markets have skipped the desktop and have gone straight to mobile,” said Barchewitz.
In 2018, GFG broke even on an adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization basis in its Latin America and Australia segments, while net merchandise value grew from 1.1 million euros to 1.45 million euros. The company’s plan is to reach 1.8 billion euros in 2019.