Zegna communications director to step down

Courtesy of Zegna PR and communications director of the Zegna Group Domenico Galluccio has announced his intention to step down from the company to pursue a new opportunity. The news was revealed via an internal memo by the group’s chief marketing and sustainability officer Edoardo Zegna, which was acquired by FashionUnited. Galluccio will be departing from September 30 after three years of “fruitful collaboration with the group”, as detailed in the note. Zegna went on to say: “We wish to thank him for contributing to the development of the group communication strategy.” Galluccio’s former responsibilities will be divided between two employees. Francesca Di Pasquantonio, the group’s director of investor relations, will take the responsibility of group and corporate communication. Joining October 10, Valentina Abbà will take on the role of PR & communication director, working directly with Zegna. The exec said that he hoped the new organisation will allow the company to consolidate its relationships while also wishing Galluccio luck on his endeavours.
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Checkmate secures five million dollar funding round

Image: Checkmate, Facebook Personalised smart shopping tool Checkmate has announced the closing of a five million dollar seed funding round, led by Fuel Capital. The new investment will be used to accelerate product development and customer growth, the company said in a release. The tool itself aims to offer a way of responding to current market dynamics, with its CEO and co-founder, Harry Dixon, stating that it could provide significant value to brands. “With record-high inflation, economic uncertainty and a volatile stock market, consumers are looking to save wherever they can,” Dixon said. He continued: “At the same time, skyrocketing digital ad costs mean retailers and brands need new ways to establish and build their own customer relationships.” Available as both an app and a laptop extension, Checkmate enables users to manage personalised email deals from brands and automatically apply them at checkout. The dashboard further stores gift cards and tracks orders so shoppers can see when their packages will arrive.
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Giglio.com's revenues increase driven by strong growth across markets

Image: Giglio.com, Facebook In the first half of 2022, Giglio.com earned 22 million euros in revenues from sales and services, an increase of 45 percent compared to the first half of 2021. In the second quarter, the company said in a statement, gross merchandise value grew by 47 percent despite the strong macroeconomic instability that the Ukraine conflict has generated. “We operate in a macroeconomic context that requires caution. Our forward-looking choices have allowed us not only to consolidate the significant revenues growth recorded in the last year, but also to achieve an important cost optimization, a key factor for such an evident profitability improvement,” said Giuseppe Giglio, President and CEO of Giglio.com. “The opening of a new logistics hub in Vimodrone (Milan) that allows us to optimise logistics flows and improve our fulfilment abilities by recalibrating it to our growth objectives, has greatly contributed to achieving this result,” Giglio added. Giglio.com records strong performance across core markets The company added that its poor exposure in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus - which in 2021 only accounted for 1.2 percent of the entire GMV - helped confirm the solidity of the business model. This result stems from the company’s solid and continuous internationalisation process. As at 30 June 2022, the share of the foreign market exceeds 70 percent of total sales. The expansion of the business in the APAC region was 50 percent due to continuous developments of the company’s marketing plans and to the new Korean and Japanese versions of the e-commerce platform. The company recorded 132 percent growth in South Korea and 118 percent in Taiwan and despite the intermittent lockdowns, China recorded 89 percent growth. Strong growth of 129 percent was also recorded in the MENA region and 40 percent in North America. Giglio.com’s margin growth continues in the first half Gross profit, in absolute value, increased 63 percent compared to the first half of 2021, due to an increase of the gross profit margin of 3.1 points. Trading profit more than doubled, exceeding 1.9 million euros compared to 0.8 million euros in the first half of 2021, up 129 percent. EBITDA as at 30 June 2022 amounted to negative 1 million euros, with a negative 4.8 percent incidence on revenues, a clear improvement compared to the first half of 2021, when the company recorded a negative 8.9 percent. EBIT amounted to negative 1.6 million euros compared to negative 1.7 million euros on 30 June 2021. Net result amounted to negative 1.6 million euros compared to negative 1.8 million euros in the first half of 2021.
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