European online retailer Zalando takes on more B2B ecommerce

Zalando, one of Germany’s biggest online retailers, wants to jumpstart its flat business by branching out into B2B.

The company recorded no change in its gross merchandise volume (GMV) and revenue from 2022 to 2023. Now, it is rolling out new strategies to grow over the next five years.

B2B’s role in generating revenue for Zalando

A big priority is generating more revenue in B2B ecommerce, says co-CEO Robert Gentz.

“The company’s recently launched Zeos business enables Zalando to shape the European fashion and lifestyle industry beyond its own consumer business,” according to an announcement from Zalando. “It makes the company a key enabler for e-commerce transactions beyond Zalando, for example via the About You, ASOS or Otto marketplaces.”

Over the past 15 years, Zalando has built a powerful operational logistics and technology backbone tailored to the needs of the fashion and lifestyle industry, the company says. Today, the ecommerce and logistics platform is part of Zeos.

The logistics network is made up of 12 fulfillment centers and about 20 return centers. In addition, it benefits from relationships with more than 40 local carriers.

How Zeos works

The technology at Zeos is powered by the company’s proprietary ecommerce platform and Tradebyte. Tradebyte is a fashion and lifestyle marketplace integrator that Zalando has owned since 2016.

“Zeos is uniquely positioned to help brands and other fashion retailers overcome the inherent complexities of cross-border e-commerce in Europe, where they are faced with numerous languages, currencies, payment methods, delivery and returns options, as well as the need to manage multiple sales channels,” Zalando says.

To date, Zeos has generated sales of about 900,000 euros, Zalando says.

“Zeos is running on Zalando’s operational backbone and is now building an operating system for the fashion and lifestyle industry to enable the entire value chain of multi-channel direct-to-customer, all the way from integration to customer fulfillment,” Zalando says.

In 2023, Zalando generated GMV of 14.6 billion euros compared with 14.8 billion euros in 2022. Meanwhile, revenue in 2023 was 10.1 billion euros versus $10.3 billion in 2022.

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