Highsnobiety exits e-commerce to refocus on media, agency, partnerships
Bottom Line Impact
Exiting loss-making e-commerce should lift margins and conserve cash near term, repositioning Highsnobiety as a higher-value cultural marketing partner and sustaining brand equity while short-term revenue may dip during the transition.
Key Facts
5- E-commerce shop to close by year-end, with operations wound down in phases
- Approximately 50 job cuts targeted by year-end
- Highsnobiety Shop featured 100 plus brands on its marketplace
- E-commerce unit has been loss-making since inception per founder interview
- Estimated annualized opex savings from headcount actions EUR 4 to 6 million based on EUR 80k to 120k fully loaded cost per FTE
Time Horizons
Key Roles Affected
Executive Summary
Highsnobiety will shutter its loss-making shop by year-end and cut about 50 roles, pivoting resources to media, creative services, and brand partnerships. The move should improve margin mix and cash discipline while 100 plus partner brands seek alternative distribution, positioning the Zalando-backed platform as a higher-margin cultural marketing partner.
Actionable Insights
Immediate Actions (Next 30-90 days)
Publish a 90 day wind-down roadmap with milestones for inventory exit, partner communications, and audience redirection, and set an EBITDA breakeven target within four quarters tied to B2B revenue growth
Rationale: Clear milestones reduce execution risk, signal discipline to partners, and anchor the pivot toward higher-margin services with measurable financial outcomes
Role affected:CEO
Urgency level:immediate
Quantify wind-down charges and realize opex savings by locking in severance, vendor termination terms, and office footprint reductions; redeploy 30 to 40 percent of savings into scalable B2B revenue engines
Rationale: A defined payback period under 12 months and targeted reinvestment increases near-term liquidity while accelerating long-term margin expansion
Role affected:CFO
Urgency level:immediate
Short-term Actions (6-12 months)
Stand up an affiliate and retail partner monetization layer across commerce-intent pages and newsletters, targeting a 15 to 25 percent uplift in revenue per thousand visits within 90 days
Rationale: Rapid monetization of existing traffic offsets commerce revenue loss and preserves consumer journey continuity
Role affected:CMO
Urgency level:short-term
Secure three to five anchor retail partners with CPA or rev-share deals and data-sharing SLAs, and roll out brand collaboration capsules without inventory risk
Rationale: Anchor partners stabilize demand capture, enhance attribution visibility, and keep brand collaborations active without balance sheet exposure
Role affected:Head of Partnerships
Urgency level:short-term
Risks & Opportunities
Primary Risks
- Revenue gap from lost DTC sales before partnership monetization scales
- Erosion of brand equity if wind-down creates poor customer experience
- Loss of first party purchase data reducing insight quality for partners
Primary Opportunities
- Margin uplift from exiting structurally unprofitable retail operations
- Stronger positioning as a cultural marketing and creative agency partner
- Deeper integration with Zalando and other retailers to monetize audience at scale