1.1 billion euros in turnover, up 38%, and yet, profits down 19%, to 62 million euros. At Vinted, the paradox is not one. One year after reaching balance, the Lithuanian platform is sacrificing its margins to build new ones elsewhere in the value chain.
A growth mechanism that does not weaken
This choice is made at a time when the fundamentals are in good shape. The gross volume of goods reached 10.8 billion euros, an increase of 47%, a rate higher than that of turnover. The situation is all the more favorable with persistent inflation which pushes arbitrage towards the second hand. But the dynamic goes beyond the mere cyclical effect, second-hand is becoming a real consumption reflex.
The real bet: controlling the pipes
The challenge for Vinted is to move away from the classic marketplace model, which leaves most of the operational value in the hands of third parties (logistics, payment).
With Vinted Go and Vinted Pay, the platform seeks to control the very conditions of the transaction, whether it concerns the delivery of the package, or the processing of the financial flow. A change which modifies the nature of the model, from an intermediary, Vinted becomes an operator. Especially since logistics and payment are becoming levers of differentiation, and tomorrow, profit centers.
The numbers give the measure of the effort. At the end of 2025, the Vinted Go network had more than 7,000 shipping points in France, around 4,700 automatic lockers and 2,300 relays, covering more than 2,000 municipalities. On a European scale, the mesh reaches nearly 14,000 points. And the momentum is not slowing down: the stated objective is to cross 10,000 points in France by the end of 2026. A deployment which is less about logistics in the classic sense than a strategy for occupying the territory, point by point.
The cost of this internalization weighs heavily on immediate results. But the logic is the development of an infrastructure, the foundation of future income.
Germany taken, the United States in the sights
Another signal of maturity, Vinted indicates that it has stabilized its position in Germany, the last major European market to have resisted it. This recovery validates the model’s ability to prevail in dense competitive environments.
The following sequence is now playing out across the Atlantic. Vinted is preparing an offensive return to the United States, a market it has been trying to penetrate for more than a decade. This time, the approach is no longer exploratory. Thomas Plantenga announced at the start of the year investments of several tens of millions of dollars to achieve his goals.
If a first London–New York corridor made it possible to test demand without immediately deploying a complete infrastructure. Vinted will have to use the bricks proven in Europe: optimization of the platform, structuring of logistics flows, strengthening of acquisition, to face heightened competition with Poshmark, ThredUp, or even Mercari, especially since American consumption habits are less oriented towards second hand than in Europe.
8 billion valuation, and falling profit
While its valuation was estimated at around 5 billion euros in 2024, it would now reach 8 billion, a figure would have been sealed during a secondary operation in which the Blackrock investment fund participated.
After 2 secondary operations, an IPO is planned in the medium term. The board of directors is being restructured to align with the standards of listed companies.
Controlled tension
The strategy undertaken is not without risk. Operating a network of thousands of relay points and lockers throughout Europe requires flawless operational execution: flow management, network maintenance, consistent quality of service from one country to another. The slightest hitch (delays, lost packages, degraded experience) erodes the trust that the platform is precisely seeking to consolidate.
Payment, then. By internalizing this brick, Vinted enters dense regulatory territory. Financial licenses, compliance obligations (KYC, anti-money laundering), supervision by European regulators: the requirements are those of a payment institution, not a simple marketplace. Although the group has obtained the necessary approvals, maintaining this compliance in a context of rapid geographic expansion constitutes an ongoing challenge.
The American offensive, finally. The market is on a different scale, with established players, different consumption habits, and a customer acquisition cost that is significantly higher than in Europe. Vinted commits tens of millions of dollars to it with no certainty of return. The history of e-commerce is dotted with European platforms that have failed in the American market, from Zalando to Vestiaire Collective, transatlantic successes remain rare.
Vinted has chosen to operate its infrastructure, the bet is not without risk, but it is structuring. Tomorrow’s margins are emerging in today’s investments, and the Lithuanian company does not intend to curb its ambitions to preserve a model that does not live up to its ambitions.
