Successfully selling as a fashion brand on market-places in 2023

Zalando and the fashion industry today

The fashion industry is in a state of flux. On the one hand, after the Covid years, many fashion retailers have financial problems and are facing insolvency. This year alone, several fashion giants such as Galeria or Peek & Cloppenburg have already filed for insolvency. In 2022, 102 producers and retailers in the textile industry were affected and filed for insolvency.

But there are also many changes in the online world. The largest online fashion retailer in Germany and Europe is Zalando. For some time now, we were able to see that it is no longer possible, or only possible with difficulty, to participate in the Zalando affiliate program. This is due to the fact that Zalando wants to clean up its assortment. It can even happen that certain brands are kicked out of the partner program if Zalando is of the opinion that the products no longer fit the company. The new motto is quality instead of quantity in order to offer customers better products. Lastly, there was also a new fee schedule for Zalando partners who sell their products on the platform. According to Zalando, this has been standardized, but the result is that it is no longer profitable for many retailers to sell on Zalando. This is because commissions of 25% are incurred in some cases as a result of this new order. Therefore, more and more retailers want to turn away from Zalando.

What alternatives are there?

About You

About You is also a fashion and lifestyle marketplace and is active in several countries in Europe. The marketplace has over 30 million active users per month and therefore offers a lot of potential. About You’s goal is to put a focus on personalization and offer customers a personalized shopping experience. To show this directly, About You even advertises with the slogan “Europe’s most personal fashion online store”.

Otto

Otto is also a good alternative to Zalando. Each month, 59.8 million visitors visit the platform. In addition to clothing, Otto also offers household products, furniture and much more, making it a generalist among marketplaces. Otto is very well known in Germany and advertises itself with 11 million active customers and up to 10 orders per second. With this, Otto definitely brings a lot of potential.

limango

If it’s more about kids fashion, then limango is a great place to go. Limango is aimed at young families and sells fashion products to babies, children and adults. In addition, the marketplace also has Home & Living products on offer. According to limango, there are 1.9 million active customers on the marketplace and is the top platform for young families.

YOOX

Then there’s also the YOOX marketplace. YOOX describes itself as the “world’s leading online lifestyle store.” YOOX is more for premium products, you can find lots of designer brands like Versace, Prada and Gucci. So for high-end and high-priced clothing and shoes, YOOX is the perfect marketplace.

Marketplace Newcomer – Best Secret

The fashion world is huge, of course there are many more marketplaces where products can be sold. Also, new ones are added regularly or well-known fashion brands expand their range and become marketplaces. One example of this is Best Secret. This off-price shopping club has already announced that it will expand its offering to include a marketplace model. At the moment, this model is already being tested with a few brands in Germany, but is soon to be expanded and spread to the whole of Europe.

Conclusion

The current situation with Zalando shows us that we must not become too dependent on a single marketplace. However, this does not mean that you have to be directly present on all marketplaces. We recommend building up competencies in the marketplace area and then making informed decisions, because each marketplace has its advantages and disadvantages that need to be recognized.