Selling on Zalando

Interested in selling via Zalando? Then you’ve come to the right place. In the table of contents below you can see (and click on) what we will cover in this article.

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Why Zalando?

Zalando offers an online platform for fashion and leisure products. It sells clothing, accessories, shoes, and beauty products. Zalando specifically focuses on fashion retail in its main sales channels. Zalando Lounge, outlet stores, and overstock management are additional Zalando sales platforms. All other Zalando sectors are made up of diverse emerging companies.

Zalando is an excellent platform to sell fashion and leisure products for businesses that want visibility and access to European consumer markets. Zalando has grown exponentially in recent years, making it a core leader in the fashion market around Europe.

Zalando

1 Selling on Zalando

Advantages of selling on Zalando via e-tailize

Low commissions starting at 5%.
No setup fees.
Offers access to over 50 million customers.

Zalando safeguards payments and has an excellent security system in place.
European presence.
Can be linked with software that makes scaling easy.

Fully integrate Zalando with your systems

Do you want to manage Zalando and any future or current marketplace in one place? At e-tailize you can accommodate the following functionalities:

Sell on marketplaces across Europe (over 100 integrations)
Centralized order management (automatic & manual)
Centralized inventory management
Full PIM system specifically designed for marketplaces
Easily post products on marketplaces from one screen
Integration with all kinds of fulfillment software (e.g. MyParcel or Picqer)
Connection with the well-known CMS platforms (Shopify, WooCommerce and more)

How to sell through Zalando?

Step 1

Register your business with your local Chamber of Commerce before starting your eCommerce journey with Zalando and e-tailize.

Step 2

Create & activate your account

Create an account at Zalando and go through the steps on the platform. Within three days you will receive confirmation of your account.

Step 3

Centralize with e-tailize

Connect e-tailize and upload your products to Zalando. After uploading products to e-tailize, we will immediately track your stock and send orders to your order system.

Step 4

Optimize your content

Use our data analysis tools to optimize your content and increase your sales.

Possible Problems and Challenges

Knowledge | Quite a bit of knowledge is needed to be able to compete well with current sellers on Zalando. That’s where an analytical tool like e-tailize can help you. Our dashboard gives you the insights and pointers you need to take on the fight.

Errors | It is important that you as a seller keep your sellers rating as high as possible. Stable stock synchronization and reliable order forwarding are therefore critical. In addition, you also want to be able to efficiently process a high number of returns. With a tool like e-tailize you can be sure that there are no (synchronization) errors between your marketplaces, webshop(s), fulfillment parties, and the PIM system.

Scaling | When you have Zalando under control, you want to expand the number of channels – and thus your reach. If you import your products into a PIM system, you can also upload the products to other marketplaces in addition to Zalando. Even better; immediately your order management and stock synchronization are arranged.

What categories do you have through Zalando

The main categories in which you can sell through Zalando include:

General clothing
Accessories
Beauty
Beachwear
Menswear

Beachwear
Footwear
Children’s clothing
Lingerie

The buying block

The buying block

When several partners offer the same product, one of the partners is featured in the buying block. That's because this partner has the best offer in terms of price, delivery time, and service. Most sales on Zalando are made through the buy block. Thus, it is essential to win your buying block. A common tactic to always win the buying block is to set up your own brand or unique European Article Numbers or EANs. If you are the only provider of a product, you will always win the buying block.

Performance Score

Performance Score

The 'service' part depends entirely on your performance score. Your performance score is determined based on how well you meet the service conditions set by Zalando.

The costs & conditions

There are two types of selling fees on Zalando:

Commission on sales
Recurring fixed monthly fees

The type and cost of the product being sold are also taken into account when determining the selling commission on Zalando. Typically, it falls between 5% to 25%. Speaking of, selling on Zalando has a very low monthly charge. The good news is that there are no selling fees assessed for the first three months, giving sellers a leg up on settling in and becoming accustomed to the platform.

How to learn to sell through Zalando

There are several ways to get sales knowledge on Zalando. Zalando offers some blog tutorials, especially via their partner program. In addition, there are blogs providing helpful advice for sellers or businesses targeting the European market on online markets like Zalando, such as this guide you are reading.

At e-tailize, we also provide selling tools, such as our “Analyze” module, which provides you with insights and a summary of the marketplace data. This will enable you to respond to “Actionable Metrics” effectively and fast.

Conclusion

The best way to contact customers interested in fashion, apparel, and lifestyle products in Europe is through Zalando. There are lots of chances, and getting started is simple. You must establish your processes correctly from the beginning. Pay close attention to any software that can relieve you of that. not just in terms of procedures but also in terms of data analysis-related qualities. A good place to start is e-tailize.