Zalando has developed its own AI model in recent years to offer customers ideal products based on their preferences, explained Schröder's colleague Robert Gentz. "What one person finds gorgeous, another finds terrible." According to Schröder, Zalando also uses AI to find the correct size for a garment. The actual body measurements of more than one million customers are already stored in the database, with 20,000 more added every week. Thanks to these technologies, Zalando increased the average number of items per order by 13 percent last year and reduced returns by eight percent.
Gentz described the rise of so-called AI agents, which perform complex tasks independently, as an opportunity. Purchases made directly from a chatbot could tap into additional customer groups. By 2030, 15 percent of online retail sales are expected to come from this sales channel. Consequently, Zalando is cooperating with Alphabet subsidiary Google in this area.
Another growth driver for Zalando is its business-to-business (B2B) segment. Through "Zeos," the group provides logistics infrastructure to third-party companies. This offering is complemented by the shop software "Scayle," developed by the acquired competitor About You. In this segment, Zalando secured denim pioneer Levi's as its first North American customer. However, Schröder emphasized that this does not imply an imminent expansion of Zalando's private customer business to that region. The potential for further growth in Europe remains significant. "But we are not ruling out a move into the USA."
ACCELERATED GROWTH - OPTIMISTIC OUTLOOK
Zalando increased group revenue in 2025 by nearly 17 percent to 12.3 billion euros and operating profit by 15.6 percent to 591 million euros. "We promised profitable growth and delivered at the upper end of our guidance," said Zalando CFO Anna Dimitrova. In the key B2B segment, operating results even doubled. For 2026, she is targeting a revenue increase of twelve to 17 percent and an operating result between 660 and 740 million euros. An expression of this confidence is the announced 300 million euro share buyback program.
The war in Iran has not yet affected business, Dimitrova said. "We had a solid start to the first quarter." Thanks to long-term supply contracts, costs have not risen so far. The logistics division has hedged against rising energy costs through forward transactions until the first half of 2027.
Analyst Frederick Wild from the investment bank Jefferies described Zalando's figures as impressive. The outlook exceeds market expectations. Therefore, he considers the German group's shares to be undervalued compared to its peers.
(Report by Hakan Ersen, edited by Myria Mildenberger. For inquiries, please contact our editorial office at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and economics) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)
