The Berlin online retailer Zalando is adjusting the sales commissions for its connected retail model and introducing a “mandatory basic fee”.
This fee is due for retailers and brands in the partner program from July 1st, Zalando confirmed to FashionUnited on request. Several media, including the industry magazine Schuhkurier, had previously reported on it. The marketplace fees for all partners are to be standardized as early as April 1st.
“We want to offer our customers the best possible shopping experience. Our partners play an important role in this. We want to grow profitably and sustainably and continue to invest in the services and technologies that improve our partners’ businesses,” Zalando said in a statement. “As a result, we are revising the fee structure for our Partner:innen program and Connected Retail and will be making changes here in the coming months.”
These changes also include the adjustment of the Commission. From July onwards, in the Connected Retail program, Zalando will differentiate between products that are sold exclusively on Zalando by the suppliers and items that are already available elsewhere on the platform. Zalando’s “standard fee structure” applies to the exclusive pieces. For the products that are already available on Zalando, the retailers “benefit” from a cheaper commission model, according to the online sender. However, this model only applies if the respective item is sold out at Zalando or the partners of the program.
