September 14 (SeeNews) - Romanian online retailer elefant.ro booked a net loss of 4.56 million lei ($1.08 million/ 922,255 euro) in the first six months of 2021, compared to 1.64 million lei loss in the same period of last year, it said.
The retailer's revenue rose by an annual 3.6% to 107.2 million lei in the first half of 2021, the company said in a statement filed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB, on Monday.
Some 93 million lei of revenue came from sales in Romania, while 6 million lei came from sales in Moldova.
The cost of merchandise rose to 75 million lei in the first half of 2021, compared to 73.8 million lei in the same period of 2020. Also, expenses for employees, marketing, amortisation and depreciation, transportation rent and other operational expenses amounted to some 35 million lei in the first half of the year.
The retailer's gross profit rose by an annual 46% to 26.53 million lei, while its gross merchandise value grew by an annual 31% to 120 million lei.
The increase was stimulated by a 25% annual growth of the number of unique visitors to the website in the first six months of 2021, Elefant.ro said in a separate press release on Monday evening.
"The year started with a robust growth in ecommerce, which then gradually diminished after restrictions were eased. Since May, local consumption became concentrated during holidays, in restaurants, shows and convenience stores. We see this market correction as a transitory one and we expect growth of online consumption to return starting in September," elefant.ro general manager Sergiu Chirca said.
So far this year, the company has opened a showroom in Brasov and will inaugurate a second one in just a few days in the Park Lake shopping center in Bucharest.
"The last-mile industry segment, which focuses on proximity to the client, is an important element of our investment strategy. We will gradually open other showrooms so that, by 2025, we aim to have around 50 locations nationwide," Sergiu Chirca said.
Founded in 2010, Elefant.ro is also present in Moldova since 2016.
(1 euro=4.9475 lei)