German online fashion retailer Zalando has announced plans to scale back its marketing spend in light of its first-ever drop in revenue.

In the first half of this year, Zalando registered a £5.9 million operating loss with an overall fall in revenue, and a cash outflow of £565 million.

In an interview with the Financial Times, co-founder and CEO Robert Gentz was adamant that mass job cuts can be avoided, with a renewed focus on profitability.

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Gentz also revealed that the building of new logistics centres would be postponed and that company would be offering less free shipping offers in light of the difficult economic situation.

He continued: “Our plan is to keep employment by the end of this year steady, but we have become much more cautious in hiring.

“Two years of enormous growth lie behind us. When I think about the fashion industry, my optimism has not changed at all.”

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