Zalando taps local retailers to streamline order fulfilment

German e-tail giant Zalando is expanding its intergrated commerce pilot, launched earlier this year with adidas, to other local retailers. After connecting the offline assortment of two Berlin-based adidas stores to Zalando, the online retailer has joined forces with a host of local retailers in Germany and offering them the opportunity to fulfil online orders to Zalando customers with their products.

As online sales continue to grow, with online sales in the UK alone predicted to account for 22 percent of all total retail sales by 2020 according to Emarketer, it is vital for retailers to have a strong digital strategy in place. However, for smaller, independent high street stores setting up and running a solid online channel can be both costly and difficult to maintain. Which is why Zalando launch its new pilot project in Germany, to enable local retailers the chance to connect with the Zalando Platform, using minimal technical effort through the external partner software "gax-system".

“With its platform strategy, Zalando is working on different ways to not only connect big brands and retailers, but for the first time to connect local stores with limited technological infrastructures,” commented Jan Bartels, Vice President Logistics Products at Zalando. “This way, Zalando becomes the digital solution for smaller retailers who are facing the challenges of digitalization and offers them a further sales channel. We see the future of commerce as a seamless shopping experience for customers, no matter if fashion items are available online or in local stores. This is why we are continuously testing new Integrated Commerce initiatives, which connect both worlds.”

Philipp Kannenberg, member of the board at gaxsys added: “Piloting with Zalando helps gaxsys to enable a large number of local retailers to participate in e-commerce. We are convinced that local commerce can only exist in synergy with e-commerce, not in competition.” There are currently 10 local retailers working with Zalando, including Tip Tap Kinderschuhe in Weilheim, and Schuhhaus Fischer in Esslingen. These store can easily accept orders from Zalando customers and fulfill them when the matching item is available in their stores.

“As a local store, our main challenge is to reach new customers, especially those of the younger generations. Thus, in order to generate extra sales, e-commerce is important for us as an additional distribution channel,” commented Thomas Ganguin, from theTip Tap Kinderschuhe. “So far the experience of selling online via the gax-system has been good. We are now able to sell more brands and benefit from Zalando’s vast reach. If we were running an own online shop we would need much more storage capacity and would have to schedule more personnel. With the gax-system we can flexibly decide on which orders to accept online.”

Photos: Courtesy of Zalando