November the 9th, 2021 - The Polish Internet giant, Allegro, has purchased Mall Group (of which the popular Croatian Mall.hr is a part) in a new acquisition which is likely to boost the Group's reach even further.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, the Polish Allegro, one of the largest e-commerce platforms in all of Europe, is taking ownership of the Croatian Mall.hr, an online retailer which operates within the aforementioned Mall Group.

As announced by this Croatian company, Allegro bought 100 percent of the Mall Group and WE | DO CZ on Friday from the previous owners, PPF, EC Investments and Rockaway Capital, for a total price of 881 million euros.

The final price could be increased by a correction of up to 50 million euros, which is far from spare change. The purchased business includes Mall Group's e-commerce assets and WEDO logistics assets located in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, here in Croatia and in Poland.

At the end of the financial year on March the 21st, Mall Group achieved a gross sales value of 930 million euros and a gross margin of 14 percent. The Croatian part of this group, Mall.hr, pointed out that they are among the three best web stores currently operating on the Croatian market.

“We started working back in 2016, and we're currently in the phase of transition to the omnichannel model, since we're opening the first Mall.hr Mega shop within the King Cross Jankomir shopping centre in Zagreb. Last year, compared to 2019, we recorded significant growth of 40 percent, which could be expected given the market situation, and this growing trend has continued in 2021,'' they say from the Croatian Mall.hr.

When asked how they see the relationship between "domestic" and global online stores here on the Croatian market, they point out that they believe that "domestic" web stores in Croatia have an advantage, since this fact alone brings a dose of customer confidence in safe but affordable shopping and also allows for easier communication and better connectivity between the web store and customers.

“This acquisition will drive our growth further and help us take our business to the next level. Together, we'll also achieve greater market competitiveness as the expertise brought by Allegro in the form of their web marketplace will develop across all Mall Group brands and markets. We're the perfect combination because both companies are focused on growth, innovation and teamwork, but also in terms of business - our 1P model complements Allegro's 3P model and vice versa. In this scenario, everyone wins,'' they said from Mall.hr.

The acquisition, after the approval of the regulator, should be realised by the end of 2022.

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