zal industry online retailing founded 2008 2008 founder rocket internet robert gentz david schneider headquarters berlin germany area served europe key people robert gentz chairman president & ceo david schneider rubin ritter revenue 2.958 billion 2015 operating income 89.6 million 2015 number of employees 9 987 december 2015 subsidiaries zalando lounge mybrands zalando verwaltungs gmbh mybrands zalando elogistics mybrands zalando eservices mybrands zalando estudios mybrands zalando eproductions zlabels gmbh emeza kiomi website corporate.zalando.com advertisement on a house in cologne 2015 topshop zalando with cara delevingne zalando se is a european electronic commerce company seated in berlin . the company maintains a cross platform online store that sells shoes clothing and other fashion items . the company was founded in germany in 2008 and since has began operating in fourteen european countries and worldwide with spin offs and subsidiary companies . contents 1 history 2 business model 2.1 eliminating boundaries to online shopping 3 geographical presence 3.1 united kingdom 4 further expansion 4.1 ireland 5 business figures 6 controversies 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit zalando was created in 2008 by rocket internet robert gentz and david schneider initially under the name ifansho . 2 inspired by us online retailer zappos.com 3 zalando initially specialised in the sale of footwear but has since included other areas of fashion and sports . in 2009 zalando began operations outside of germany when it started offering deliveries to austria . in 2010 the company launched in the netherlands and france and in 2011 it opened online retail sites in the uk italy and switzerland . in 2012 it launched in sweden denmark finland norway belgium spain and poland . in 2014 zalando was listed on the frankfurt stock exchange . 4 since 22 june 2015 zalando has been included in the mdax . in 2015 zalando started collaborating with topshop and began selling merchandise in their physical stores . advertisements featuring the model cara delevingne were broadcast in germany switzerland and france . 5 in june 2015 the berlin based fashion trade fair bread & butter was acquired by zalando with the intention to open the globally important event to a broader audience as a fashion festival . 6 business model edit the core of zalando s operations is conducted in germany with centralized management located in their berlin headquarters . amidst waves of business outsourcing especially since the financial crisis zalando s choice to operate and manage its logistics centers in house has led critics to conclude that the company was digging itself an early grave . 7 the company made firm its belief that it could only optimize its business operations by taking care of the management itself . internet technology is at the heart of their operations employing over 1000 it workers alone in countries with locational advantages in it in ireland dublin and finland helsinki . 8 they have actively developed and optimized its logistic centers to cut down on costs and to increase speed of preparing the customer s order . eliminating boundaries to online shopping edit they gain their competitive advantage through their generous shipping and return policies which come at no additional costs while promising a speedy delivery of the ordered items . additionally they offer payment after delivery which involves a certain risk for the company . the option to pay after receiving the items as well as the 90 days return policy are highly attractive options for internet shoppers and exert an even stronger influence on first time online buyers who hold back on purchasing online often because of the perceived risk that is involved . these two policies pose a major inventory management risk which is especially strong in the fashion industry with the risk of not being able to sell the items if they have gone out of fashion in this rapid changing industry . however thanks to its efficient and effective management of their logistic centers they seem to be able to contain this threat . whereas many critics and watchdogs expressed concerns that the company would never be profitable it has since 2014 proven them wrong . geographical presence edit european countries in which zalando operates the company operates in the following european countries germany austria switzerland france belgium the netherlands italy spain poland sweden denmark finland norway and the united kingdom . united kingdom edit in 2011 zalando launched zalando.co.uk thereby offering its retail services to uk customers . deliveries were operated by yodel . in the same year zalando launched a tv ad in english replicating the humorous format used in its german language commercials . in it a long suffering husband bemoans his wife s addiction to buying shoes and warns other men about the dangers of introducing women to zalando . in 2015 zalando acquired a 20 % stake in cheltenham based software company anatwine headed by a former ecommerce director of supergroup for a seven figure sum . anatwine s software which helps online fashion retailers and brands integrate their processes systems and stock files will enable current and future clothing and accessory brand clients to use anatwine s technology to sell their merchandise through zalando . zalando is expected to speedily widen anatwine s range of brands . 9 further expansion edit ireland edit there is no official report on why the company has not expanded towards ireland . it is the only country in north west europe where zalando isn t active . although the company actively manages an off shore it hub located on the silicon docks with around 200 employees working for the internet retailer . 10 ireland as an island state implies that zalando has only 2 options to service this market . it can only ship its parcels by shipping them overseas or it must build outsource a logistics center on the island itself . it is questionable whether either option could be profitable given the size of the ireland market . furthermore zalando would not be able to guarantee its shipping policy and fast delivery service . shipping through the uk would theoretically be more economical but to date there exists no bridges or tunnels linking the two countries together . zalando it center dock 1 phoenix see dortmund business figures edit zalando was accumulating losses ever since it was founded until they started making profit in 2014 . the most important cost factors for zalando are fulfilment costs and marketing costs both taking up 50 % of total revenues alone without the costs of sales included with marketing costs as high as 25 % in 2010 . 11 they managed to become profitable for the first time in 2014 which was due to cost management and profitable sales in their additional markets . almost 50 % of their sales revenues are generated in germany austria and switzerland which they define as one geographic unit under dach . their yearbook furthermore shows that the firm was already profitable in this geographic unit as early as 2012 . 12 it reflects zalando s growth strategy by which they deliberately sacrificed short term profits for long term growth . the online fashion retailer has hitherto surprised critics and supporters alike that their business model can be successful . the great risk lies in the generous shipping and return policies which are both free of charge for customers while maintaining a variety of payment options of which payment after delivery constitutes the most risky but also most attractive option for consumers . 13 while their profitability is still very modest they have successfully entered important markets in europe with ireland czech republic and portugal the most likely countries to follow . year revenue bn . euro profit loss in bn . euro revenue growth ebit margin 2010 14 15 0.150 0.020 13.5 % 2011 0.510 0.060 240 % 11.8 % 2012 1.150 0.090 125 % 7.8 % 2013 12 16 1.800 0.120 56 % 6.3 % 2014 17 2.200 0.082 26 % 3.7 % 2015 18 2.958 0.107 33.6 % 3.6 % controversies edit in july 2012 german tv channel zdf broadcast a report on the packing and distribution centre operated for zalando by a provider near berlin . 19 the report stated that certain staff who often commute more than 200 km per day from nearby poland are not allowed to sit down during their working day . 20 in november 2015 the centre for protection against unfair competition in germany filed a suit claiming that zalando misled consumers on the availability of certain products suggesting that they needed to act fast to buy them . zalando said that they had already changed their marketing practices taking the centre s concerns into account . they claimed that they no longer informed consumers that there were three items available when more than three were available . 21 see also edit e commerce online shopping references edit zalando.de site info . alexa internet . retrieved 2014 06 19 . jaff diana ; riedel saskia 8 december 2010 . werbung f8r adam und eva zielgruppengerechte ansprache durch gender marketing communication . wiley vch . p. 215 . isbn 978 3 527 50549 4 . retrieved 13 september 2011 . bloomberg businessweek ; 3 5 2012 issue 4269 p74 80 6p 5 color photographs zalando to raise up to 815 million in german e commerce ipo retrieved on 31 january 2015 saramowicz caroline . another day another cara delevingne campaign model fronts topshop s zalando campaign . graziadaily.co.uk . retrieved 31 may 2015 . zalando kauft berliner modemesse bread & butter german berliner zeitung 8 june 2015 o hear steve . samwer zappos clone zalando takes on a hefty 40.7 million in debt financing . techcrunch . retrieved 2016 04 27 . zalando gesch ftsbericht 2015 bilanzen und berichte . annual report.zalando.com . retrieved 2016 04 27 . 1 retrieved on 22 may 2015 briggs bill . german e retailer zalando grows web sales 36 % in 2015 . retrieved 2016 04 27 . year report zalando 2012 a b zalado s year report of 2013 zalando gmbh . retrieved 2016 04 22 . f r umsatzrekord zahlt zalando einen hohen preis . die welt online in german . 2013 02 15 . retrieved 2013 10 21 . max wilken 2012 02 20 . zalando macht miese trotz umsatzexplosion . fabeau.de in german . retrieved 2013 10 21 . jonas rest 16 february 2014 . online modehandel zalando zalando macht sich fit f r die b rse . fr online.de in german . retrieved 2015 02 14 . zalando erzielt jahresgewinn nach starkem vierten quartal in german . 11 february 2015 . retrieved 2015 02 17 . zalando continues on high growth path in german . 1 march 2016 . retrieved 2016 03 02 . nach heftiger kritik zalando partner reagiert fashionunited 02 august 2012 . zdf zoom im zalando lager ist den arbeitern sitzen verboten golem.de . thomasson emma 5 november 2015 . german private sector watchdog accuses zalando of false advertising . reuters . retrieved 5 november 2015 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to zalando . official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title zalando & oldid 742798486 categories clothing retailers of germanycompanies based in berlinshoe companies of germanyonline retailers of germanyonline clothing retailersretail companies established in 2008german brandssocietates europaeaehidden categories cs1 german language sources de use mdy dates from november 2012pages using infobox company with unsupported parameterscommons category with local link same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a 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