Clothes come online, profits go out – the Hungarian online fashion market is in foreign hands

The German Zalando achieved a turnover of more than 15 billion euros in 2024, About You crossed the 2 billion and Bonprix crossed the 1.5 billion euros revenue mark, while Answear is dynamically expanding in the Central and Eastern European region. However, Hungarian customers are served from abroad: the logistics centers are mainly located in Poland and Slovakia, from where packages arrive within 2–5 business days.

Although the platforms operate Hungarian-language customer service, they are not Hungarian companies in a legal and financial sense. The return conditions also differ: Zalando and About You offer free returns, Answear has conditions, and in the case of Bonprix, the buyer bears the postage costs.

In 2023, the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) launched an investigation against several players for communicating price discounts. In the case of CCC, Answear and About You, the indication of discount prices was not always legal, so the authority requested increased transparency. Although companies have since improved their practices, the GVH continues to highlight the importance of informed consumer decisions.

Meanwhile, a new, rapidly growing competitor has also appeared on the market: the Chinese Shein, which with its extremely low prices and daily product updates mainly targets the young, price-sensitive audience. Although it exerts serious pressure on European players in the short term, the large platforms – especially Zalando – are trying to maintain their market position by building on quality, guarantees and service reliability.

The Hungarian online fashion market is therefore flourishing, but most of the profit does not stay at home. According to experts, this trend raises questions in the long term: how can domestic brands and online stores compete with multi-billion euro, cross-border platforms in a market where clothes come online – but the profits go abroad.