The Management Board of Windeln.de AG has just passed a comprehensive set of measures to focus its business activities more closely on the customer, improve its operating processes, and cut costs. Hereby Europe’s leading online retailer for baby and toddler products intends to advance its transition from a pure growth-driven business to a sustainably profitable e-commerce champion.
One of the first steps seems to be a reduction of the company’s workforce by 100 employes. The reason for the layoffs is the flash sale business which ran under the brand Nakiki. This business will be shut down.
Windeln.de was founded in 2010 and today operates online shps like Windeln.de, pannolini.it, windeln.ch, kindertraum.ch, toys.ch, bebitus.es, and feedo.cz. Windeln.de is also tapping into new customer groups in China with its Tmall Global shop launched in July. This platform offers an expanded range of German quality products, fast delivery, and accepted payment methods.The Munich-based company went public in 2015.
Windeln.de aims to generate balanced earnings over the next few years with the existing capital base and, in the long term, to achieve an EBIT margin of more than 5%.
In order to be able to offer its customers the most popular products at attractive prices and to ensure fast delivery at all times, Windeln.de is reducing its product range from 750 suppliers to the 290 top-selling suppliers, who account for more than 95% of total sales. This will significantly reduce the company’s complexity while maintaining its product range with more than 60,000 products. Private labels will also broaden the range. A first step taken here was the successful launch of the company’s first own infant milk formula brand, Formila Plus, earlier this year.
The potential offered by the company’s presence in European markets, which Windeln.de expanded last year by means of acquisitions in Spain and the Czech Republic and through organic growth in Italy, will be exploited more. By integrating the Southern and Eastern European shops bebitus and feedo, Windeln.de expects efficiency and cost benefits particularly through a shared IT platform. The warehouse in Grossbeeren (Berlin) used for the shops in Germany, Switzerland, and the Eastern European countries, will be replaced by a central warehouse based in Eastern Europe, which will start operating in the second half of 2017.
Implementation of this set of measures will be supported by management changes. Jürgen Vedie has been taken on as the new COO, a position that he previously held at Zooplus. He will assume central responsibility for the entire supply chain all the way up to logistics and will implement the measures designed to boost efficiency.
Without Nakiki’s shopping club business, management anticipates that sales from ongoing operations will increase by 25% from €161 million in 2015 to €200 million in 2016.
While the layoffs are bad news (especially for the affected employees), the overall measures might be good news for the stock price of the Windeln.de AG – at least in the long term. Soon after the IPO, the stock price was over €15. Today it is at €3.90.
