Zalando positions itself as an ecommerce ecosystem
For the second consecutive year, Zalando has seen a decline in its revenue. A growing portion of its income comes from sales partners on the platform. Zalando aims to actively focus on providing support to other ecommerce companies.
In addition to annual figures, Zalando has also released an update of its strategy. Lifestyle products and B2B services are crucial in this update.
Revenue and profit
Zalando closed the past year with a revenue of 10.1 billion euros, 1.9 percent less than in 2022. The income had already slightly decreased that year as well. However, Zalando operates with a better return: the EBIT almost doubled last year, reaching 350 million euros. The German company recorded a net income of 83.0 million euros in 2023, compared to 16.8 million in the previous year.
Zalando’s net income quintupled in 2023.
Zalando saw the number of active customers decrease by 1.6 million last year, to 49.6 million European shoppers. The number of orders decreased by ten times that amount; Zalando received 16 million fewer orders, but with a slightly higher average amount (+5.6 percent). The company aims to grow its customer and order base again by expanding with lifestyle products, including sports items and toys.
Marketplace
Third-party sales are becoming increasingly important for Zalando. Marketplace partners accounted for 4.9 billion in sales in 2023, half a billion more than in 2022. They represented 34 percent of Zalando’s B2C trading volume. In its strategy update, Zalando positions itself explicitly as a company with both a B2C and a B2B division, which will also be reported separately.
ZEOS
Last fall, Zalando introduced fulfillment for third-party retailers under its new ZEOS brand. Under this banner, it aims to “shape the European fashion and lifestyle industry beyond its own consumer business”. Zalando enables ecommerce transactions beyond its own platform, for example, via About You, ASOS, or Otto.
Zalando enables transactions beyond its own platform.
Besides logistics, ZEOS aims to support other ecommerce companies with software and services, Zalando indicates. The good profit figures give the company the opportunity to invest in the strategic priorities of its ecosystem vision, according to co-CEO Robert Gentz. “We have the financial strength to successfully build the pan-European ecosystem for fashion and lifestyle ecommerce.”
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