Property
German internet company Zalando is about to build a new mega-distribution centre in Bleiswijk in the Netherlands. The project will yield 1500 jobs and involves an investment of 200 million euros.
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Fashion
German fashion web shop Zalando wants to stimulate the direct delivery of goods through partnered fashion stores, after it turned out the German e-tailer lost a billion euros worth in turnover last year due to supply shortages in its own warehouses.
Cosmetics
After a successful launch in Austria, Germany and Poland, Zalando now launches its beauty range in Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy and Sweden. A new campaign accompanies the expansion.
Zalando is introducing shipping costs in Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom, following an earlier test in Italy. This seems to mark the end of the free era, even though the German company says there are no plans to further expand the measure.
During the first three months of 2019, German fashion web shop Zalando has exceeded expectations and expects to have made a profit after tightening its return policy.
German fashion web shop Zalando will be integrating its private labels into the rest of the platform. The idea is for these labels to compete less with external brands. For that reason, the separate private label division will be terminated, which may result in jobs being cut.
German e-tailer Zalando has decided to expand its management board with a Chief Financial Officer and a Chief Technology Officer. At the same time, it will redefine the job descriptions for its three co-CEOs.
General
The Netherlands is the second market where Zalando's physical partner programme will be introduced. More than two years after German customers, Dutch web shoppers too will be able to see on the web shop whether the item they like can be delivered through a local store.
Zalando may have found a new trick to limit the number of returns: an oversized tag should prevent people from wearing the clothes and then sending them back. Returns will only be accepted if the tag is still attached.
Zalando has started testing smart home technology that should allow couriers in Belgium to deliver parcels inside customers' homes, even when they are not there.
For the first time, German e-tailer Zalando has departed from its renowned 'free' policy: in Italy, the company has started charging a delivery fee for small orders. A sign of things to come?
Despite a rising turnover, online fashion shop Zalando saw its overall loss reach 55.7 million euros for the third quarter. The hot summer and too many returns were quite costly for the German company.
Electronics
A new employee called Toru is starting in Zalando's warehouse in Erfurt, Germany. You might consider this nothing special, but Toru is an autonomous picking robot that can not only move whole boxes, but even individual objects.
Can a computer understand fashion? Zalando believes so, and launches a virtual stylist: from now on, an algorithm chooses what would be the ideal outfit for every customer. The online fashion retailer will also integrate physical stores in his platform next year.
Retailers often make their omnichannel models needlessly complicated and expensive. The problem is they start from the wrong assumptions. In his newest book, retail professor Gino Van Ossel makes a case for pragmatism.
Outlet stores are becoming more important in Zalando's business model: two new stores are to open this summer, with many more to come.
