Online fashion retailer Zalando wants to expand its premium assortment
with luxury fashion. The latest additions include brands such as Alberta
Ferretti, Moschino Couture, and Proenza Schouler White Label. Lena-Sophie
Roeper, buying director premium and luxury at Zalando, explains the new
luxury strategy and talks about bestsellers and trends for AW20.
The online retailer, which has so far catered mostly to mainstream
fashion customers, announced last year that it wanted to become the
‘starting point for fashion’. As this strategy takes shape, Zalando is
expanding the offering in its online shop to include more luxury fashion
and, for the first time, second-hand clothes as of autumn. The overall
assortment comprises more than 2,500 brands, of which 240 are premium
brands, such as Michael Kors and Lacoste, and around 20 luxury brands, such
as Alberta Ferretti.
With 30,000 items, the premium category is still small compared to the
total of 500,000 products in the online shop, but this area at Zalando is
growing the fastest. Driven by Millennials and Gen Z, purchases of luxury
items online are expected to grow faster than the overall clothing market
in the coming years. Zalando is already feeling the demand today. In 2019,
customers looked more than 20 million times for luxury brands which they
couldn’t find in the online shop. Zalando hopes to close this gap by
expanding its offering. By 2023, the company plans to double its gross
merchandise volume in the premium category – this figure includes items
sold by brand partners in the webshop and products that Zalando stocks
itself.
Last week, Zalando announced the expansion of the luxury segment and
mentioned new additions. How many more labels will be added?
Lena-Sophie Roeper: We are in specific talks with about
30 brands. We cannot yet disclose the names of the brands before we have
final decisions.
And how many new brands will be added to the premium and luxury
segment this year?
We plan to add 30 new brands by 2020. About half of them will be luxury
brands. Some of them have already been confirmed. For example, we have
Missoni and Marni with parts of their offering, but not yet with the entire
collection. But we have already started the relationship. Brands such as
Alberta Ferretti, Moschino Couture and Proenza Schouler White Label will
also be added soon. Phillip Lim and Mulberry are also new.
Luxury brands are often selective in their distribution strategy, and
some companies have recently started to focus more on direct sales. As a
mainstream fashion retailer, how do you convince brands like Hermès or
Prada?
We are very open with them, we present our business model, we explain
the brands a bit more about Zalando, our plans – particularly in the
premium and luxury segment. We also have a unique selling proposition: we
have by far the largest customer base, especially in the young segment –
that is everything under 35. Here we are the market leader when it comes to
the number of customers. If you consider that customers in the luxury
segment will become increasingly younger in the coming years, we are
actually the perfect answer to this.
And younger customers are shopping for luxury fashion differently than
before?
Customer behavior in the luxury segment is changing; you can see this in
all the collaborations between luxury and lifestyle brands. You can see the
shift to ‘mixing and matching’, that it no longer has to be pure luxury,
but that the reality of what customers wear on the street is very diverse.
Vintage pieces are part of it and price points don’t really play a big role
anymore, individual style is much more important.
Zalando plans to revamp the appearance of the premium area within the
online shop and improve packaging. What else have you planned as part of
the luxury strategy?
We are planning various events in 2020 to communicate our premium and
luxury segment. These include a major event during Paris Fashion Week,
where we will present exclusive items from new brands in our advanced
contemporary and luxury segment.
How many capsules of premium and luxury brands does Zalando actually
launch per year?
It’s hard to give numbers here, but we have plans for a larger,
sustainable capsule towards the end of the year. There are usually two of
the smaller exclusive capsules in the premium and luxury segment per season
with several designers.
What role does sustainability play in your premium offering?
Compared to the overall sustainable assortment at Zalando, the green
range in the premium and luxury segment is still rather small, but we are
working on solutions with existing partners. We are planning to triple our
offering here by autumn/winter 2020 alone and this is just the
beginning.
Could you also give us an insight into the current bestsellers in the
ladies’ range?
Oversized coats are very, very big; combat boots, square-toe boots and
sandals are huge. We sell designer coats, leather jackets and trousers
incredibly well. Chunky-chain jewelry is huge. Then there are power suits
for ladies, but also really colourful suits, blazers. A lot of feminine
silhouettes, lace and frills are back again. Apart from that a lot of soft
leather as far as accessories are concerned – much inspired by Bottega
Veneta.
Which trends do you notice are slowly fading?
The biggest trend in 2019 was by far the Chunky or Dad Sneaker. You can
definitely still see that there’s a rebound. Not just chunky, but also
fitted with stones and even bigger logos. But on the other hand, we also
see a bigger trend back to tennis court sneakers, truly clean, minimalist
silhouettes.
Lastly, a look ahead: Which trends will shape 2020?
Leather is very much on the rise. Faux leather or sustainably processed
regular leather. In the most diverse forms – be it shirts, dresses,
trousers, jackets or suits. You can also see this on all the runways for
autumn-winter 2020, and it will continue throughout the year. Skirts,
suits, suits with skirts, and eighties influences can also be seen, with
slouchy boots and big shoulders. As far as materials are concerned, we see
faux teddy and high-quality shearling a lot. Plus, a lot of chunky and
eclectic jewelry.
Picture: Zalando
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