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Many accuse e-commerce of destroying the classic fashion trade in the cities.
But the other way around it turns into a shoe, claim the online retailers.
"I definitely do not believe that stationary retail will disappear," said Zalando's co-boss David Schneider on Tuesday, "but it will no longer function in isolation in the future."
For the vast majority of customers, there would be a digital point of contact somewhere on the way from the decision to shop to the act of buying pants, jacket or dress.
Zalando wants to make its platform available to stationary retailers for this purpose.
“But they have to network,” says Schneider.
The combination of e-commerce with local strengths and tailor-made services from local merchants could lead to flourishing business models.
Many market experts see it similarly.
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The corona pandemic is forcing more and more small and large fashion retailers to realize that it is no longer possible without a foothold on the Internet.
For many, the insight comes too late.
The German trade association expects that up to 50,000 stores will soon be given up.
For those who resist the decline, it remains a tightrope walk.
Large platform providers such as Amazon, Ebay, Otto or Zalando woo the retailers and their billions in market potential with arguments such as the fact that they can reach many more customers over the Internet than in stores.
In addition, they offer - for a fee, of course - services ranging from warehousing and logistics to organizing delivery and processing returns.
Numerous dealers are now jumping on this trend.
The run of customers into the digital shopping world is followed by the onslaught of providers.
At Zalando, the number of connected brick-and-mortar stores quintupled last year to 2,400.
Source: WORLD infographic
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Between the beginning of 2021 and the end of February alone, it skyrocketed by another 1,000.
For the first quarter, Schneider expects an increase in total sales revenue - that is, its own sales plus the sales of the platform partners - by no less than 50 percent.
Zalando speaks of the “gross volume of goods” (GMV).
The Berliners are about to take the reins of market leadership from the supposedly all-powerful Amazon group, at least in their self-chosen field, fashion for Europe.
According to market observers, it has not been proven whether this will be successful in the long term, despite the recent very high growth rates.
Because the recent leaps in sales are favored by the closings in stationary retail, says analyst Jörg Philipp Frey from Warburg Research.
"The key to a continued above-average performance is the extent to which Zalando can outperform market growth despite the size it has already achieved," Frey writes in a note.
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The stock exchange reacted cautiously to the good news from Berlin.
By the early afternoon, the price of the Zalando share rose by only around one percent to a good 90 euros.
The markets had already priced in good numbers.
Since the beginning of March, the price has risen by more than eleven percent, without being able to top the high of over 102 euros reached in mid-February.
While Warburg Research only recommends that investors keep the Zalando share, Baader Bank rated the share “Buy” on Tuesday and remained at a price target of 115 euros.
Analyst Volker Bosse noted in an initial overview that the forecast and strategic prospects are strong.
The pandemic became a growth engine for Zalando
Of course, Zalando is considered a candidate for promotion to the top Dax stock market segment.
The move is likely, especially since the leading index is likely to expand significantly in autumn with the expected expansion from 30 to 40 values.
For investors who entered the Zalando IPO almost six years ago with a good 24 euros, the investment has so far been worthwhile - with a few slacks.
In addition to companies such as the food supplier Delivery Hero, Zalando, founded 13 years ago by tailor and fellow campaigner Robert Gentz, is one of the few success stories among the new German digital corporations.
In this respect, the location's image has suffered badly from setbacks such as the Wirecard disaster.
The pandemic year 2020 developed into a growth engine for Zalando.
The gross volume of goods soared by 30.4 percent to 10.7 billion euros.
That is almost twice as much as in 2017.
Larger competitors such as H&M or Inditex (“Zara”) recorded even higher growth rates in the online business in the epidemic year, but the barely used branch network weighed on their balance sheets.
Zalando doubled its net profit to 226 million euros.
At first it looked anything but positive.
The uncertainty in the first phase of the pandemic had completely spoiled consumers' desire to buy clothes - offline and online.
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In March, the Zalando board of directors even announced a drastic austerity program, including a salary cut for management, and a few months later it called it off again.
Online fashion shopping began to take off on a large scale.
Gentz predicted that the trend will remain intact for a long time: "There will be no relapse to the level from the pre-Corona period." His long-term outlook was correspondingly ambitious.
The gross goods volume of Zalando should increase to more than 30 billion euros by 2025 with the increasing share of platform partners - almost three times the value of last year.
Gentz spoke of an "immense growth opportunity" and justified this with the fact that Zalando had developed into the primary search platform for fashion on the Internet.
According to the figures of the cookie evaluator Comscore, the Berlin-based site was called up 1.5 times as often for corresponding searches as that of the next-placed competitor H&M.
Inditex, Asos, Adidas and Nike are even further behind.
The use of Zalando as direct access for potential customers to the world of goods forms the core of future growth, according to Gentz.
Pages called up as product search engines, including Spotify for music or Booking.com for hotel bookings, would have unique advantages, including, above all, the full attention of customers who are ready to buy.
"And companies don't have to pay Facebook and Google for traffic to their pages," he added.
“People come directly because they know that their needs will be met here.” That is why a comprehensive range of services is essential.
Zalando's claim must insist that customers have the feeling that they can find every available size, color and cut on the platform.
Source: WORLD infographic
In the long term, the Berlin company is aiming for a market share of ten percent in the European fashion market with a volume of 450 billion euros.
For the foreseeable future, investments would therefore have priority over profit distributions.
In this and next year alone, the company plans to enter eight Eastern European markets with around 14,000 employees, including Estonia, Croatia, Romania and Hungary.
For the first time, Astrid Arndt, who is responsible for human resources, is joining the Zalando Management Board, which currently consists of five men.
After eleven years at Zalando, co-boss Rubin Ritter is leaving the company for the annual general meeting in May - according to his own statements, in order to be able to devote more time to his family and other interests.
Shortly before saying goodbye, the man in his late thirties was sure that the online retailer was more than a crisis winner in the pandemic.
"Covid has given us economic tailwind, but the roots of our success go much deeper," he said.
Many investors have yet to be convinced of this.
"Alles auf Aktien" is the daily stock market shot from the WELT business editor. Every morning from 7 am with the financial journalists Anja Ettel and Holger Zschäpitz. For stock market experts and beginners.
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