Giglio.com Feels Luxury Slowdown in 2024, Inches Closer to Breakeven
MILAN – Italy's Giglio.com was not immune to the slowdown in luxury spending las year.
Amid an iffy outlook for luxury players and many of the e-commerce giants, the luxury online retailer, listed on the AIM Italia program of the Milan Stock Exchange dedicated to small and medium-sized companies, logged an 18 percent drop in 2024 sales to 46.2 million euros.
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Thanks to cost-containment and efficiency measures, it managed to improve profitability, though, inching closer to breakeven.
In the twelve months to Dec. 31, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization stood at a negative 178,000 euros, a slight improvement over the 230,000-euro loss in 2023. In 2022, the EBITDA was negative at 1 million euros.
In the second half of 2024, margins further improved, increasing 0.5 percent.
'The slight revenue contraction, after more than a decade of exponential growth, should be seen as a natural and temporary normalization of demand, following years of inflated business volumes during and immediately after the pandemic,' said Giuseppe Giglio, chairman and chief executive officer of Giglio.com.
'We're proud to be a solid and resilient company, capable of improving both EBITDA and net profits against an external environment that remains particularly challenging for our industry. We've responded with the prudence and responsibility needed to stay on track toward swiftly reaching breakeven, despite a significant slowdown in consumer appetite for luxury goods,' he added.
Last year, the company completed the relocation of all its operations to the 75,350-square-foot, state-of-the-art logistic and shooting center in Palermo, Italy, unveiled in 2023.
The company also said it managed to trim variable costs with increased efficiency in logistics operations and packaging, as well as through 'prudent marketing investments.'
In 2024, the net loss stood at 1.27 million euros, compared to a loss of 1.7 million euros in 2023.
Giglio.com functions as a marketplace with around 200 brick-and-mortar stores as partners, mainly based in Italy, in addition to France, Spain, and Austria, among other countries.
In 2024, two-thirds of Giglio.com's gross merchandise value was generated abroad and especially in the European Union.
As reported, last July the company introduced Digital Gateway, a new B2B division that provides business clients with services geared at ramping up their digital capabilities.
This was followed earlier this year by the launch of Community Shopping, a new omnichannel service allowing partner stores to rely on the platform's entire digital stock, resorting to fellow boutiques for products they do not carry or that are sold out.
In addition to the Giglio.com business established in 1996, the Giglio family independently operates five physical boutiques in Palermo, Italy — a business that began in 1965.
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