German fashion online retailer Zalando is opening itself up to sellers so that they can sell via the Zalando platform to shoppers. For the first time, local retailers can connect to the Zalando Platform with minimal technical effort via the external partner software “gax-system”.
Zalando Vice President Logistics Products Jan Bartels says: “With its platform strategy, Zalando is working on different ways to not only connect big brands and retailers, but to connect local stores with limited technological infrastructures for the first time. This way, Zalando can be a digital solution for smaller retailers who are facing the challenges of digitalization and offer them a further sales channel. We see the future of commerce as a seamless shopping experience for customers, whether fashion items are available online or in local stores. This is why we are continuously testing new Integrated Commerce initiatives, which connect both worlds.”
So far it’s a small trial with only 10 retailers involved but it’s a new horizon for Zalando and could well become much more interesting to marketplace sellers in the months to come if they open up the trial.
Zalando is big news over on the continent (although it does also operate in the UK) and to give you a sense of its scale it gets 160 million visits a month and operates in 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Poland and the United Kingdom.
