An Australian fashion and sports retailer has overcome the cost of living stresses to grow earnings for its European owner.
The Iconic posted first-half earnings of €8.3 million ($13.6 million), up 69 per cent from a year ago. Revenue climbed 7.0 per cent to €163 million ($266 million).
Two million customers placed an order within the 12 months, a figure that’s up two per cent from a year ago. It has been seeing strong growth in New Zealand.
The company is owned by Luxembourg-based Global Fashion Group, which also owns smaller fashion websites serving Latin America and Southeast Asia.
“In a more challenging discretionary spending environment, ANZ’s performance reflects our highly relevant brand and assortment proposition that continue to resonate with customers,” said chief financial officer Helen Hickman.
“Higher living costs and interest rate increases have weighed on consumer confidence so far this year.”
Christoph Barchewitz told analysts that Australia’s earning season wasn’t complete, so the company didn’t have a complete picture of where it sat in relation to its competition.
“But I think generally we feel like we’re performing above average,” he said.
“A couple of them have reported weaker sales and especially recent trends being fairly weak,” with pressure in the industry intensifying in June and July.
The Iconic’s online marketplace has seen accelerating adoption since its launch in early 2023, with 88 brands live.
Since June all of its products have used an automated tool that adjusts pricing in real time.
The Iconic is also Australia’s only fashion retailer participating in a Google pilot project known as the Universal Commerce Protocol, which lets AI assistants like Gemini and Google Search AI mode complete purchases from within the chat interface.
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