“At the time of closure of brick and mortar stores in April, e-commerce accounted for as much as 95% of our sales. Today, we are reinforcing our omnichannel model, with a stronger online channel compared to the pre-pandemic period. This is demonstrated by the continuing high two-digit sales growth we record every month. The group's key investments have been focused on online channels for a long time. Now, we are monetising them. Eobuwie is still the driving engine of online sales at the group, but revenue contribution from the other platforms is rising, showing the hard work of our teams. We have also significantly improved our gross margin in the online segment, by 2.1pp in the second quarter of 2020 and by more than 1pp in the third quarter of 2020”, commented Karol Póltorak, Vice President of the CCC Management Board for Development and Strategy.

CCC’s revenue recovered after the coronavirus pandemic lockdown: its like for like sales surged quarter on quarter, from -48% in the second quarter to -16% in the third quarter, which, according to the company, was driven by a steady increase in foot traffic at the CCC stores, significant conversion levels, and purchase baskets, translating a more purchase-oriented visit to the stores. Witnessing the changes in the purchasing behaviour of customers, the group announced it is targeting its offer at entire families by organising promotional and sales campaigns. "The rapid revenue recovery seen by the CCC Group was achieved thanks to its being well prepared for sales in the brick-and-mortar stores and the continuing high dynamics in the e-commerce channel", CCC believes.

The share of e-commerce sales (carried out through 64 online platforms) in the group's revenue in the second quarter of 2020 was close to 50%, compared with 23% a year earlier, and in the third quarter of 2020 it was 38% (preliminary data), which compares to 25% a year earlier. In both periods, the company developed its online points of contact with the customer by launching 12 new desktop platforms and applications on new foreign markets.

“We have learned a lesson from the pandemic. We are working to launch another e-commerce dispatch facility, so that the logistics centre in Polkowice, which is mainly used in catering to the needs of customers at the traditional stores, is able to support at any time the retail customer service centre in Zielona Góra, where online orders are executed. In this way, in the peak periods of e-commerce orders, we will be able to handle them from two locations. In addition, in the near future we will also start e-commerce shipments to new markets where we have not been present to date. Another initiative in the pipeline is the launch of shipments to online customers directly from stores”, commented Mariusz Gnych, Vice President of the CCC.

At the end of the second quarter of 2020, the total area of the CCC sales network was 762 000 square metres. At the end of September 2020, the CCC Group was present in 29 countries. In 22 of them CCC operated more than 1 209 traditional stores and had an online presence in 17 countries. The group operates a total of 66 online platforms across Europe, including eobuwie.pl, ccc.eu, MODIVO, DeeZee, and Gino Rossi.