Partnership
January 2017 – present
Employees
1,380 end 2016 – 6,624 end 2023
Sector
Technology / Consumer
Location
Poland
Website
allegro.pl
Polish online marketplace
Polish online marketplace Allegro has the most recognised and successful internet platform in Poland with iconic brand recognition and unrivalled user engagement metrics. The $3.25bn/€2.75bn acquisition in January 2017 by MidEuropa, Cinven and Permira saw the business transformed through digital upgrades, operational improvements, and a highly motivated team to grow revenue in Poland over 5x and profits c. 4x, as well as significantly increasing the headcount as the business became one of the world’s top 10 e-commerce businesses. The tremendous growth saw employee numbers grow from 1,380 at the end of 2016 to 6,624 at the end of 2023, more than 30% of senior management positions are held by women, and Allegro is a proud member of the UN Global Compact.
In October 2020, Allegro became one of the largest Internet and e-commerce IPOs in Europe and the largest initial public offering on the Warsaw Stock Exchange when it listed with an implied market capitalisation of PLN 44bn (€9.8bn).
Partnership highlights:
- Launch of Allegro Smart! in 2018 as a free delivery subscription service
- Optimisation of the take-rate mix as fees shifted from listing towards success (to incentivise B2C and C2C sellers), and offering a broader assortment of goods to enhance the value proposition
- Merchants supported through investments in technology such as automated tools and analytics to provide valuable data, which in turn helped them to provide a better and more tailored offering to end-customers
- Development of a platform ecosystem which included logistics, payments, consumer and merchant finance, loyalty programmes, customer support and buyer protection programmes
- Introduction of One Fulfilment in 2021 as a comprehensive service for merchants that includes storing, packaging and delivering orders from a single logistics centre to further reduce delivery times, provide high-level customer service, and reduce the environmental impact
- Strategic acquisitions of online ticketing platform eBilet in 2019; fintech start-up FinAi in 2020, enabling the launch of Allegro Pay; Opennet in 2021, allowing Allegro to in-house its last-mile software; X-press Couriers in 2021, a same-day delivery company, to complement its fulfilment services; Mall Group in 2022, which facilitates the expansion across CEE and opens access to a PLN 1.14 trillion addressable retail market of 70m people
- Investment into technology to increase traffic, conversion, transaction frequency and basket size by introducing a single product view
- Number of active buyers in Poland increased by 4.8m to 14.6m between the end of 2017 and end of 2023 and Polish GMV (gross merchandise value) alone grew c.4x between end 2016 and end of 2023
ESG initiatives highlights:
- Joined the Climate Leadership program powered by UN Environment
- Promoting “clean air” – as part of the Anti-Smog Coalition, Allegro removed all offers with coal stoves that fail to meet the legal requirements from its platform
- Enablement of sustainable packaging and deliveries which includes free courses on zero-waste packaging achieving 49% sustainable packaging in own operations in 2023
- MSCI ESG rating upgraded to AAA at the end of 2023
- Introduced Board oversight on ESG & Climate strategy, data protection and cybersecurity
Value creation:
- Organic Growth
- Operational Excellence
- Acquisitive Growth