By
Bloomberg
Published
May 20, 2026
Poland’s clothing retailer LPP SA expects sales at its flagship Sinsay stores to return to a growth path after a slump at the start of the year, its founder and chief executive officer Marek Piechocki said.
Sinsay, LPP’s main growth engine, saw a 6.8% drop in its like-for-like sales in the first quarter of 2026, weighing on the stock even as the company posted a record gross margin for the period. “We didn’t quite get our customers’ expectations right as they’re now ready to buy slightly more expensive products than before,” Piechocki said in an interview at LPP’s headquarters in Gdansk. “We also had a few shortcomings in the area of visual merchandising.”
At its launch in 2013, Sinsay catered to teenage girls with affordable clothes. Since then, the brand has added clothing for women, men, and children as well as home and beauty products, both online and at around 2,500 shops located in more than 20 countries.
However, the brand’s same-store sales growth stalled to just 0.9% in the first quarter of 2025 from 20.3% in the same period a year ago. The number of Sinsay stores more than doubled in the last two years.
Investors have taken notice. LPP shares have gained 2.4% this year, underperforming Warsaw’s WIG20 Index, which advanced 13%. The family-run company, which competes with Hennes Mauritz AB and Inditex SA’s Zara, is valued at 39 billion zloty ($11 billion) on the Warsaw bourse.
To counter the drop in sales, Sinsay increased the share of more expensive products in the fourth quarter. Piechocki said he expects Sinsay to regain its previous growth rate in a longer-term horizon.
“For sure such a temporary slowdown gives us pause to consider whether we are moving too fast,” he said. “But we wouldn’t like to make any sudden moves, especially that the current situation does not require it.”
