Zalando, Europe's largest dedicated online fashion retailer, lifted its full-year revenue forecast after sales growth accelerated in the second quarter, helped by a growing number of customers and an increased appetite for exclusive brands. The Berlin-based company, which ships clothes, shoes and accessories to more than 16 million customers, now expects revenue to grow 28-31 percent in 2015 from 2.21 billion euros ($2.46 billion) last year, having previously given guidance for a 20-25 percent increase. Zalando, the exclusive retailer for U.S. apparel retailer Gap and the British Topshop brand in Germany, affirmed its full-year target for an adjusted operating margin of 4.5 percent after a series of fraudulent activities by bogus customers weighed on second-quarter profitability. The fraud cut into Zalando's operating margin by 2 percentage points during the first half to 3.7 percent, it said. As a result, it took an 18.5 million euro ($20.6 million) writedown on trade receivables in the second quarter, reflecting bogus customers ordering goods in high volumes for delivery to fake addresses to be payable at a later date via invoice. After spotting the problem, it revised its credit scoring system and stepped up fraud monitoring. "This issue is fixed now," board member Rubin Ritter said in a conference call. Adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) decreased to 30.2 million euros ($33.66 million) in the April-June period, down from 35.1 million euros last year. Second-quarter revenue grew 34.1 percent to 733 million euros. Zalando said the use of mobile devices grew 40 percent in the second quarter; 57 percent of more than 400 million site visits were from tablets or mobile phones. The world's No. 6 in apparel and footwear internet retailing, which ships to 15 countries, plans to expand its logistics power by building a third hub in Germany and by opening up a warehouse in Italy to speed up delivery to customers in southern Europe. "Zalando's business model allows for a geographically balanced sales exposure limiting the risk of external effects like changing consumer patterns and adverse weather effects, while at the same time keeping inventory levels low," Hauck & Aufhaeuser analyst Christian Schwenkenbrecher, who has a Buy rating on the stock, wrote in a note to clients. (Reuters)