A few weeks back, we were asked about the launch of the partner program Zalando Connected Retail. The editor of Textil Revue came across our blog post discussing the pros and cons of cooperating with Zalando Connected Retail program.
“The Connected Retail program needs to be examined more closely and assessed individually for each business. You can’t just generalize and say whether it’s good or bad”, says Mona Altheimer, Junior Project Manager at GANDT, a Swiss Consulting firm for digital strategies.
Zalando Connected Retail
Here is a refresher of the pros and cons of working with the program:
Pro
- The sales channel is extended to the EU
- Fashion houses will reach more customers on the Zalando platform
- Click & Collect and Return in Store are offered
- A filter function makes it possible that only products from the stationary trade are displayed. This way, the customer can consciously support brick-and-mortar shops
- Despite lockdowns, fashion stores can sell
- Despite lockdowns, employees can take over logistics and work
- Short notice period for retailers
Contra
- Loss of brand values
- Difficulty to maintain regular customers
- There is strong competition
- Branding is no longer equally visible
- The rules of the game apply, i.e. they determine, for example, shipping time and returns handling
- Build up a new logistics network to pack and ship the parcels
- Commission for Zalando
- Profit margin decreases, due to Zalando’s fees and the shipping costs
- Retailers pay for shipping costs and packaging
- To increase visibility, Zalando needs to invest in marketing
You can download the full article in German below.
Original German Article as PDF
Published in July edition from Textil Revue.
