Boozt and Apotea dominating Swedish online retailing
The Swedish retail magazine Market has released a list of the top 250 Swedish online retailers. The central theme of the year is a bit surprisingly not decline and unprofitability. The discussion around online retailing has lately been all about the decline of online retailers.
However, the reporting by the Market would indicate that Swedish Online had a relatively good year in 2022. One has to remember that the early part of 2022 was still partly pandemic time, and thus, the results for 2023 will most probably be more challenging for online retailers.
Of the 250 most significant online retailers, 143 (57%) were able to grow revenues, and 156 (62%) reported profitable results.
The biggest online retailer in Sweden continued to be the fashion retailer Boozt, with 6,7 billion SEK in revenues. Of the five biggest online retailers, Boozt was able to extend its lead as the company reported the fastest growth: +16%. After the clear lead of Boozt, Apotea was similarly clear number two with almost five billion kronor in revenues.
Boozt and Apotea were the only online retailers to generate more than three billion SEK revenues. Also, the grocers ICA (4614 MSEK) and Axfood (3143 MSEK) had more than three billion SEK in revenues.
International giants are growing rapidly
Of the fastest-growing companies within the most significant 50 online retailers, Zoo.se was by far the fastest grower. However, both Zoo and the second fastest grower, Lensway are growing from a relatively small base. Thus, the growth percentage can become big.
In terms of absolute growth, Boozt has reached the most significant jump in total revenues (930 MSEK) as the company grew solidly from a high base. After Boozt, the growth was reported by the two international giants, HelloFresh and Amazon.
Especially the growth of HelloFresh has been staggering. In four years, the company has grown from no sales to 2200 MSEK. In 2022, the company reported +40% growth in revenues. This landed HelloFresh as the 7th biggest online retailer in Sweden.
The American online giant Amazon reported almost +30% revenue growth, taking the company to nearly 1500 MSEK revenues.
The most significant part of either of the companies is not the current revenue level but the growth trajectory that they seem to be in. It shows that these giants are growing in the Nordics and will likely become significant players in the Nordic online retail space.
Also, grave losses and big declines
The year 2022 was challenging for many online retailers. The companies with the most significant revenue declines and losses were somewhat familiar names, companies whose problems have been covered quite extensively in the Swedish business media.
The biggest revenue declines were reported by the troubled Babyshop and Footway, with Babyshop revenues dropping by nearly -40%.
The problems seem to be accumulating for some retailers. Of the 105 online retailers (out of the total of 250) that saw revenue decline, more than 60 had more than -10% drop in revenues, and only about 40 had a single-digit decline.
Online is often regarded as an unprofitable channel. However, only 36% of the top 250 online retailers reported negative profits. Some did report profound losses.
The losses of Mathem and NA-KD ran beyond 500 MSEK, with Mathem reporting a whopping 815 MSEK loss (35% of revenues). Another online grocery player, Matsmart, reported a loss of 75% of (-419 MSEK).
All in all, the big Swedish online retailers saw a relatively healthy year 2022. The majority of the companies continued to grow profitably, some very rapidly. A total of 30 companies grew revenues by more than 50%. It remains to be seen whether these companies have been able to continue the growth during the more complicated 2023.