The e-commerce specialist Baur Group, which belongs to the Hamburg trading and services group Otto Group, suffered a slight decline in sales in the first half of the 2023/24 financial year.
According to a statement published on Tuesday, net sales in the months March to August amounted to 427 million euros. This means that it missed the previous year’s level by 3.2 percent on a comparable basis. “Extensive cost and margin pressure” also ensured that the result fell short of expectations, the company explained.
However, the mail order group emphasized that sales “remain stable above pre-Corona levels”. In addition, the company has developed “significantly better than the market” in its e-commerce business area.
Stephan Elsner, CEO, highlighted the positive aspects of the latest results. “Our business models in online retail and the service sector are crisis-proof,” he explained in a statement. The customers have signaled “an unchanged high level of loyalty to Baur”. The “order rate and frequency” has increased.
Elsner therefore sees the company basically on track: “We are confident that we will be able to close the current financial year, which is characterized by adverse conditions, with satisfactory figures,” he explained. “We meet the challenges with agile control, high operational excellence and consistent cost management. We are now laying the foundation to emerge stronger from the crisis.”