Grasping the opportunity of Zalando
As one of the leading European online destinations dedicated specifically to fashion and beauty, Zalando can make a significant impact on a brand's success in the region. Despite a reputation as one of the most complex marketplaces to master, it’s an incredible sales channel, with a huge reach - when done right.
Schwartz & von Halen, a premium handwear brand, identified the value of Zalando, and together with ChannelEngine and their agency partner Chapter E, managed to create a remarkable success story on the marketplace.
“We decided to try Zalando for the first time, and the growth was beyond imagination.”
- Marnix Troudes, Co-Founder, Schwartz & von Halen
The right connection
Schwartz & von Halen was already selling their gloves online across Europe successfully, but wanted to use an integrator that could help them access more marketplaces – especially Zalando.
Marketplace expert agency Chapter E was helping Schwartz & von Halen to manage their marketplace expansion, and was already familiar with what the ChannelEngine platform could offer. As they knew the platform has a robust integration with Zalando, Chapter E recommended using ChannelEngine to help gain access to this and other marketplaces.
Success on Zalando, however, is no accident. It takes preparation and strategy to ensure that product content is optimized and listings are properly managed.
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Preparation and expertise
The solution for Schwartz & von Halen consisted of several parts. From Chapter E, they received ecommerce expertise for integration and onboarding, and top-quality Product/Brand content. The listing process involved careful attention to product attributes, including both mandatory and optional fields. This stage is absolutely critical for success on Zalando, according to Chapter E:
“A lot of brands rush the content mapping, but it’s important to list properly, with the right product, and right category. Sounds simple, but it’s surprising how many big brands with a lot of products do not do this well. It’s also tempting to only do the required information, but this doesn’t get the best results. Chapter E goes through all the details to make sure that optional but highly relevant information is all there. This captures more sales, and minimizes returns.”
- Jeroen Schenkelaars, Marketplace Consultant, Chapter E
Using ChannelEngine as a reliable integration with Zalando, Chapter E started to optimize Schwartz & von Halen’s product content and select an assortment of products to test on the marketplace. For this phase they used a small selection of their bestsellers, choosing just two to three different styles for Men and Women.
“Chapter E and ChannelEngine guided us through the storm and made sure everything worked smoothly.”
- Marnix Troudes, Co-Founder, Schwartz von Halen
The approach was investigative, aiming to optimize listings on a small scale before repeating this success across a wider assortment. By testing a selected range in this way, it would become clear how the products are received by customers.
“It’s better to enter a marketplace with a well-prepared and carefully selected small assortment. This is just to make sure it gets integrated properly, and check it over to make sure connections between partners work, before scaling-up”
- Jeroen Schenkelaars, Marketplace Consultant, Chapter E
Unprecedented success
Within just 18 days of listing their products on Zalando with ChannelEngine, Schwartz & von Halen had completely sold out.
In less than 3 weeks, they had made €120K in revenue. Best of all – they hadn’t spent a cent on advertising.
The critical factor in this success was the combination of the ChannelEngine platform, and the expert services and advice from our partner Chapter E. This ensured that listings were set up properly from the start. It’s a testament to the synergy of optimized listings and strategic partnerships - to get the best results.
“You need a tool like ChannelEngine to automate and make your business scalable on marketplaces. It enables you to automate your ecommerce business with smart rules, and connect with other systems and channels - it’s really the heart of your marketplace business.”
- Jeroen Schenkelaars, Marketplace Consultant, Chapter E
2022 was a huge year for the brand’s marketplace sales. Thanks to their success on Zalando, they are taking their rightful place in the market.
To optimize your success on Zalando, Jeroen from Chapter E recommends the following steps:
How to prepare for successful listings on Zalando:
- Make sure your product information is already complete and accurate, and available in an ecommerce system like Magento, Shopify, or a PIM solution. This makes it easy to connect with ChannelEngine and import everything.
- Set up your marketplace account early, ideally including the KYC process as this can take time.
- Update stock levels and pricing regularly, and synchronize with orders. This is another thing ChannelEngine excels in.
- Map out the order process, how it flows, and what documentation needs to be in the box. When this is clear, it’s easier to leverage third-party solutions that accelerate growth in the future.
- Plan your fulfillment solutions, this is especially important for Zalando. Check other marketplaces, and see how their fulfillment rules/requirements align. This is important for meeting service levels like delivery period and returns.
Ready for future growth
With the combined forces of an expert ecommerce agency and the most powerful platform for managing marketplace sales, Schwartz & von Halen has made considerable progress with Zalando already.
Their listings are perfectly set up with the best categorization and ‘Zalando level’ content, and they are optimally managed with the ChannelEngine platform.
Thanks to the numerous automations and other ecommerce capabilities now at their fingertips, it’s now much easier for Schwartz & von Halen to scale-up and expand sales with more products and online channels. Schwartz & von Halen also plan to keep optimizing their profitability on Zalando with extra content and fine-tuning their assortment.
In particular, the company is considering further exclusive marketplaces, such as Wehkamp, AboutYou, and Otto. Invite-only sales channels can be a challenge, but these are more accessible with ChannelEngine which can help make introductions and ‘open doors’ when it’s a good match. With the combination of Chapter E’s ecommerce expertise and ChannelEngine’s platform, Schwartz & von Halen’s success is sure to continue.
