Fashion Retailer About You Aims For $1.1 Billion IPO As Nightlife Returns

About You, an eCommerce fashion retailer, and its shareholders are seeking up to 941 million euros ($1.1 billion) in an initial public offering (IPO) in Frankfurt, Bloomberg reported.

The retailer is betting on more demand as nightlife comes back to pre-pandemic levels, according to Bloomberg. About You’s goal is to digitize the old ways of walking around malls. It wants to create a digital shopping experience for smartphones, especially targeted at women in their 20s and 30s.

About You’s business suffered in the pandemic, despite working in eCommerce, because of the lack of purchases of nightwear, Bloomberg reported. As lockdown restriction ease, though, the company is seemingly poised to benefit from a surge in sales.

The About You platform also counts among its business an eCommerce tech platform somewhat similar to Shopify’s, which has brands like Marco Polo among its clients, according to Bloomberg.

The IPO comes after THG, another online shopping platform, listed in London months ago, Bloomberg reported. THG has a similar model to About You, in which it helps other retailers run their digital models and operates websites that market a variety of products.

The shares for About You are being marketed at 21 euros to 26 euros (about $26 to $32) apiece through June 14, according to Bloomberg. The new stock will start trading June 16.

The company is planning to sell 28.6 million shares in order to raise at least 600 million euros (about $731 million). Management and holders want to sell as many as 8.4 millions shares, Bloomberg reported.

One challenge facing retailers over the past year has been the dichotomy between personalization and privacy, PYMNTS reported. A 2020 report from Episerver found that personalization could go either way for customers, with some for and some against. Sixty-one percent surveyed said they enjoy personalization in marketing and promotions. But a primary concern is privacy, with 53 percent of customers saying they want retailers to respect their anonymity.

This, according to PYMNTS, creates the issue: Personalization requires giving up personal information.