Fruugo filed their 2024 annual report late in December, just before Christmas and it reveals troublesome times at the marketplace. Total transaction volume (TTV) dropped from £207m to £133m (TTV is the value of retailers goods sold on the marketplace), while turnover dropped 28.9% from £79m to £56m.
It’s worth noting that the group were trading strongly prior to 2024, with growth in turnover of 113% in FY22 and 21% in FY23.
While welcoming consumer protection regulation, Fruugo attributes their drop in revenues due to removing retailers unable to achieve the higher standards that the regulations require. This reduced both the number of sellers on the platform and the number of products offered for sale. They say that this is the first time in Fruugo’s history that turnover decreased, and impact is also expected in their 2025 accounts when these are filed.
“The directors are confident that the actions taken in the period were required to give the business a strong and stable foundation for growth in future periods”
– Fruugo Annual Report and Financial Statements
The Fruugo Annual Report goes on to state that cleaning up of their SKU and Retailer database resuted in a decreased level of trade in the second half of 2024 and into 2025, with a one of exceptional impairment charge of £11.9m and an operating loss of £10.8m after exceptional items.
So what are Fruugo doing to course correct after the disruptions of 2024 which put the group into a loss making position? The report says that in the FY2025, the group began the onboarding of new retailers and products and that whilst initial improvements in activity were seen, the group continued to make losses. Their financial forecast show TTV and revenues improving, along with a team in China focused on bringing onboard new retailers with fresh products.
The directors acknowledge the going concern of the Group and the Company is reliant [on] their ability to to attract new retailers, listing new products, and meeting significant growth targets, or if targets are not met, the Group and Company will need to reduce costs sufficiently on a timely basis, which is not guaranteed.
This indicates that a material uncertainty exists which may cast significant doubt on the Group and Company’s ability to continue as a going concern and therefore they maybe unable to realise their assets and discharge their liabilities in the course of business.
– Fruugo Annual Report and Financial Statements
Reading between the lines, it looks like Fruugo are ready to welcome new sellers with open arms, whether you be in the UK or in China. They’re totally reliant on you for their future business success. They also announced a new pricing model in October 2025 and new Administrative Fees in December 2025 designed to keep retailers operating within their Retailer Terms and Conditions. However, your success on the marketplace is tied with their success, and only navigating increased regulation and at the same time attracting new retailers will ensure Fruugo’s future.
6 Responses
Will sellers get paid? Looks like they owe more money to sellers than cash they have in the bank???
It is a year old now.
They owed £20MM Dec 24 that could be a big bang. Mostly China probably, looking at the range?
In any organisation, leadership conduct sets the tone. When serious ethical lapses emerge at the top, it is reasonable to expect consequences not only for culture, but eventually for performance and public trust.
We stopped selling on Fruugo because they insisted we apply EU regulations to UK-only products. Regulations to ensure product safety make sense, but we’re now in an era of over-regulation and seeing contradictory regulations in different jurisdictions.
When a company starts gold-plating regulations with no application of common sense and a support department that relies on copy-paste tinned replies quoting policy, the costs (both time and services that have to be bought) of trying to comply have to be included in the profitability calculations.
If I remember correctly, this was because they couldn’t separate Northern Ireland transactions (where EU regs apply) from Great Britain transactions (where EU regulations don’t apply) as they have a single site for the entire UK.
You and Fruugo are one of the casualties of Brexit in this instance and certainly this is one of the reasons so many sellers stopped selling on the platform (or that Fruugo had to remove from selling).
Their new man at the top, Fergal Gara, is an experienced leader. If anyone can navigate this difficult terrain, then it’s him.