Zalando is expanding its product range with items from other online stores, starting with Westwing. An AI shopping agent will eventually place orders on participating external websites, without customers having to leave the Zalando app. The German company aims to generate revenue from Zalando Extended in two ways.

Zalando is taking a major step towards broadening its offering by bringing products onto its platform that it does not sell itself. The plans were announced this week alongside the publication of its quarterly results.

Zalando has been working with external sellers for fifteen years. They now account for more than a third of Zalando Group’s B2C gross merchandise volume (GMV). Their share has risen to 33.6 percent, up from 30.7 percent a year earlier. Third-party GMV grew by 18 percent in the past quarter, according to the figures, while the group’s first-party retail business grew by just 3 percent.

Sales from the acquired About You business are included in these figures. Its marketplace now has more than 1,000 third-party sellers. The current number of sellers on Zalando’s own marketplace is unclear.

Unlike Zalando’s existing Partner Program, sellers participating in Zalando Extended do not sell their products directly on the platform, but through their own online stores. Zalando makes these products discoverable in its app, as it already does with Westwing, and currently redirects customers to the retailer to complete their purchase. From 2027, an AI agent is expected to handle the transaction without customers having to leave the app.

” According to the company, the new service offers “significant new growth opportunities for the years ahead”.

Source link