by LONDON – With many multi-brand e-commerce platforms on the rise in the future, Zalando is taking a step forward with a new offering, a boutique-style luxury space for designer brands on its website and app.
The German e-commerce giant said the space is aimed at customers hungry for designer fashion as well as “startups who are keen to get into this world”.
More from WWD
In addition, Zalando said the area will give its brand partners the opportunity to “tell their stories,” and reveal collections, campaigns and collaborations in an “elevated, curated” space.
“We can see that customers are looking for more stimulation, personalization and new and engaging experiences. They are always more interested in designer brands on Zalando, and luxury brand searches on Zalando are steadily increasing,” said Lena-Sophie Roeper, designer and luxury director at Zalando.
“For us, it offers the opportunity to be an inspirational destination for everyone, from loyal customers who regularly shop for contemporary and luxury items to first-time buyers,” she said.
Zalando Designer offers a variety of European and international brands including Lardini, Aspesi, Bally, Helmut Lang, Proenza Schouler White Label, Victoria Beckham, Missoni, Rabanne, Vivienne Westwood, 032c, GCDS, Peter Do, Ahluwalia, Ralph Lauren and Emporio Armani.
To mark the launch, Zalando has sealed a year-long partnership with British-Japanese musician and actress Rina Sawayama as an ambassador for the designer and luxury fashion offering in 2024.
Zalando has released a creative campaign with Sawayama, which she said will “tackle the key moments of the fashion calendar throughout the year.” Currently, the site’s fashion area features Sawayama’s best picks from the season, as well as the fashion video and shoot.
Both the launch of the new area and Sawayama’s appointment reflect a focus on “excellent customer experience and inspiration,” Zalando said. Last year, the company introduced Stories on Zalando, an immersive shopping experience created in collaboration with Highsnobiety, which it bought in 2022.
The Stories feature features fashion and culture trends, personalities and exclusive collaborations, and aims to highlight designer brands such as GmbH, Ludovic de Saint Sernin, and exclusive collaborations, such as MM6 x Chen Peng.
Some of the Stories are fashion features similar to what a magazine supplement or weekend newspaper would offer with headlines like “See the new wave of emerging talent,” “Level up your ranks,” and “At face a blue mon? Fear not, here’s how to tackle it.”
Zalando also implemented its new feature, an AI-powered fashion assistant, to help narrow down choices – and avoid the endless scrolling trap that e-commerce customers can fall into. The AI assistant also offers styling tips.
The experience, images and editing are almost indistinguishable from the high-end fashion sites.
It’s a bold move to launch such an offer amid a slowdown in luxury demand and the virtual disappearance of the aspirational customer, but Zalando remains undaunted.
“We are in a unique position to seize the market opportunity, as we do not only focus on the limited group of top designer customers. With more than 50 million customers across 25 markets, we serve a much wider audience – from a first-time designer customer to a customer who regularly invests in designer products,” said Roeper in an interview with WWD.
“Furthermore, existing Zalando customers organically grow into designer customers thanks to our cross-category shopping experience. Thanks to the storytelling experience offered by Stories on Zalando, which is embedded throughout the customer journey on our website and app, we encourage our customers to find designer fashion when they are looking for inspiration,” she said.
The updated experience features serve the brands, as well as the customer, Roeper added.
“Brand ‘houses’ allow brands to tell their story with the help of a dynamic library of design elements. We know it’s extremely important for designer brands to have full control over their narrative and keep the stories they want to tell about their brand, collections and campaigns. The new Designer experience gives them a toolbox for truly elevated storytelling,” she said.
The launch of the specialty range comes at a critical time for first-mover designer and multi-brand luxury retailers that are changing shape – and ownership.
As reported, Coupang bought Farfetch out of administration late last year, and it remains unclear what its plans are for the once-behemoth fashion platform and back-office service provider.
As a result of the Coupang deal, Richemont canceled its plans to sell Yoox Net-a-porter to Farfetch and Albbar. The collapse of the deal ended Richemont chairman Johann Rupert’s dream of creating a “neutral” e-commerce platform with shared ownership open to all brands.
Richemont plans to sell a majority stake in YNAP, and plans to do so within the next 12 months. The luxury giant said it has already received unsolicited interest from potential buyers.
The future of luxury retailer Browns, which is owned by Farfetch, is also unclear. Coupang, which Farfetch bought in 2015 and used as a laboratory to test its digital “store of the future” technology, has not yet confirmed its plans for a London store.
Also in December, Frasers Group bought Mike Ashley Matches at a reduced price from Apax Partners in a difficult climate for e-commerce luxury retailers.
Zalando’s new space arrives around 18 months after Amazon Luxury Stores landed in Europe. The German giant is sure to go head-to-head with its US rival, which carries high-end labels such as Perfect Moment, Giuseppe Zanotti and Mark Cross, as well as pre-owned items from Chanel and Louis Vuitton.
Last year during an earnings call, Zalando said the new designer luxury space was part of its plan to “lay additional foundations for future growth, engage customers with new content and storytelling formats, and the experience for designer brands and improving customers.”
In a research note last November, RBC Capital Markets analyst Wassachon Udomsilpa said that despite a 3.2 percent drop in third-quarter revenue to 2.27 billion euros, Zalando remains the bank’s favorite player in clothing retail on line “because of our higher confidence in his ability to capture. growth once consumer demand recovers.”
Udomsilpa added: “We are encouraged by Zalando’s ability to cope with a volatile and challenging backdrop.”
The best of WWD
