Zalando says 2026 GMV and revenue will land at the low end of its 12-17% target range. Shares fell 9% pre-market in Frankfurt. Q2 adjusted EBIT rose 10% to €205m.
Zalando warned full-year sales will land at the low end of its target range, sending shares down nine percent in Frankfurt pre-market trading. The update landed even as the retailer reported double-digit profit growth for the second quarter.
The Berlin-based ecommerce group now expects both gross merchandise volume and revenue growth to fall in the lower half of the 12 to 17 percent corridor it laid out for 2026. Zalando framed the revision as a reflection of its first-half numbers, not a downgrade to the second half outlook.
At the same time, it narrowed adjusted operating profit guidance to €680m to €720m, versus the earlier €660m to €740m. Management said it has greater confidence in hitting the midpoint of that band, citing cost savings from the ABOUT YOU acquisition and changes to its European logistics network. Growth in partner, software and retail media divisions, which carry higher margins, should also underpin profitability in the back half of the year.
The second-quarter numbers
The quarter told a stronger operational story. Reported GMV rose 20.7 percent year on year to €4.9bn. Adjusted EBIT came in at €205m, up 10 percent. The company said the ABOUT YOU deal had already delivered more than €10m in synergies during the period, as integration of the fashion platform continues.
Zalando has also been pushing into artificial intelligence on both the customer-facing and fulfilment sides. Its AI work includes personalised shopping tools, automated product onboarding and robotics across the European logistics network.
The context from May
The retailer reported first-quarter revenue up 23.8 percent to €3bn in May, with GMV rising 21.7 percent to €4.3bn. At that point it held full-year guidance and said the ABOUT YOU integration was ahead of schedule.
The shares had already lost about 15 percent this year through Wednesday's close before Thursday's pre-market drop.
Zalando's results and guidance follow a broader European retail sector that has seen consumers pull back on discretionary spending. The company's shift to a platform model, where it takes a cut of third-party sales rather than carrying inventory, has been a central part of its margin story. The partner, software and media segments are the highest-margin parts of that business.
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