Marc Hesselink

Marc Hesselink from ING Groep inquired about the trend in active customers, specifically asking about the churn of customers acquired during the COVID-19 pandemic and the outlook for growing the customer base.

Answer

CEO Jitse Groen clarified that the active customer metric is a lagging 12-month indicator. The drop reflects customers who left post-pandemic in the prior year, and the business is now growing from this new base. COO Jörg Gerbig added that while absolute churn was high due to the large influx of new users, relative churn rates remained healthy. Management believes the Northern Europe and UK & Ireland segments have returned to normal seasonality.

Marc Hesselink of ING requested more detail on the profitability outlook for the U.S. in H2, specifically how the Amazon deal would impact gross margin and EBITDA through operational leverage.

Answer

CEO Jitse Groen explained that the Amazon deal allows for significant marketing efficiencies, as it replaces a substantial portion of marketing spend. This is expected to lead to a slightly higher EBITDA in the U.S. as a consequence. He also reiterated that the North America segment was adjusted EBITDA positive in Q2.

Marc Hesselink of ING Bank NV asked about the expected directional trend for gross margins, considering the positive effect of higher delivery fees against the negative mix shift towards more delivery orders.

Answer

COO Jörg Gerbig and CFO Brent Wissink responded that while the growing logistics mix creates pressure, it is being offset by efficiency gains from network density and optimization. Wissink added that the improving gross margin on logistics orders, combined with the highly profitable marketplace business, leads to a significant improvement in the blended rate and contributes to overall adjusted EBITDA improvement.