Zalando hires TikTok veteran to get brands to pay for marketing

Zalando has hired Ray Cao as Senior Vice President of Zalando Partner Marketing Services (ZMS) to accelerate its retail media division. Previously, he helped TikTok monetize its content.

Social and AI commerce as well

On July 15, Cao will join Zalando with the mission to scale up ZMS, Zalando’s retail media unit, and strengthen its advertising solutions. Joanna Rogers will now focus entirely on her role as SVP of Propositions, overseeing all consumer offerings and the partner platform.

Cao is considered a seasoned “adtech” manager with experience at influential platforms. As co-founder and leader of TikTok’s global monetization team, he helped build out its advertising operations. His expertise in scaling social commerce aligns with Zalando’s ambition to also focus on social and agentic commerce channels.

“Given Zalando’s incredibly rich and unique dataset in the age of AI, we have an unparalleled opportunity to connect brands with highly engaged consumers at scale,” says Ray Cao. Previously, he held key positions in the early days of Google Shopping and in fintech at Intuit.