Zalando has officially launched its third-party fulfilment service. The retailer tested Fulfilment Solutions as since last year in Germany, but is now also live in the Netherlands, Austria, Spain and France. First major customer is the company Bestseller, which operates in the Netherlands with brands such as Vero Moda and Jack & Jones.
This writes the Financieele Dagblad.Zalando Fulfilment Solutions customers outsource their logistics to the retailer. These are fashion brands and retailers that already sell their products through Zalando's platform. When they arrange fulfilment through Zalando, they put their products in the retailer's warehouse, with order picking, packing, shipping and returns processing handled by Zalando. The German online shopping giant receives a commission fee for this.
Local delivery companies
For both customers and Zalando, outsourcing fulfilment can be beneficial, expects vice president Logistics Jan Bartels: "When customers order something from our partners, it often includes an item from our webshop. Now we can send those in the same parcel."
Zalando requires brands selling through the platform to hire local delivery companies to bring their orders to customers. "That's expensive for them and that's why they sometimes choose to operate only in the biggest markets," Bartels told Financieele Dagblad. "We require our partners to hire local delivery companies to bring their orders to the customer. That is expensive for them and that is why they sometimes choose to operate only in the largest markets." Zalando itself works with 17 local delivery services. "That's hard to imitate for our partners," he says.
Editorial LogistiekProfs
