Recovery not until 2025

After layoffs: How Niceshops is fighting its way back

Niceshop Green Roland Fink suffered bitter setbacks for the first time

(Bild: Erwin Scheriau)

After laying off 90 employees, the Styrian online retailer Niceshops has stabilized. However, the crisis in retail continues and founder and CEO Roland Fink does not expect a recovery this year.

The term "Styrian Amazon" has been used often and with pleasure: Niceshops was the local star in the online retail sector. Founded by southeast Styrian Roland Fink in 2010 in a cellar in Bad Gleichenberg, the company, which also specializes in niche products, was on course for success and expansion for years. The logistics halls in Saaz near Feldbach were continuously expanded and a prestigious location was created in Annenstraße in Graz.

But for the past two years there have been bitter setbacks. The retail crisis has not spared Niceshops. In the previous year, turnover, which had previously exploded to more than 150 million euros within a short space of time, fell, followed by the bad news at the beginning of 2024: 90 employees were given notice of redundancy.

"We have stabilized"
Almost all of them were made redundant, as Fink regrets in an interview with the "Krone" newspaper. The company now has around 380 employees. The economic environment remains difficult, the consumer slump continues and interest rates remain high. Nevertheless, Fink says: "We have stabilized, partly because we have cut costs."

The biggest concern is Germany, Niceshops' most important market, which is still in decline. Double-digit growth rates are being recorded in Poland and Hungary. The delivery of food, drugstore, cosmetics and garden products is developing well, while outdoor pools and e-bikes are under particularly strong pressure.

Faith in growth remains
Fink does not expect the situation to improve in the all-important fourth quarter (keyword: Christmas business), but only next year. However, he believes in further growth in the medium term: "The transformation to online retail is not over yet!"

And what does he say about the imminent opening of the Amazon distribution center near Premstätten? No direct impact on Niceshops is to be expected. "But it is an incentive for us to deliver even faster in Styria."