Successful go-live of SAP for Offprice at Zalando

25th March 2022

Founded in 2008, Berlin-based Zalando SE is a listed German online retailer for shoes, fashion and cosmetics with more than 48 million active customers in 23 European markets. In addition to the well-known online shop, Zalando operates the shopping club Zalando Lounge, the Zalando Outlet Stores and Zalando Zircle, a business model for pre-owned fashion. In addition, retailers and partners are offered various services in the areas of logistics and marketing. In 2021, the company generated revenues of EUR 10.4 billion with around 17,000 employees.

Zalando and consenso, as SAP implementation partner, have initiated a project in June 2020 to design and implement an IT solution for parts of the Offprice business (Zalando Outlet Stores and Zircle) based on SAP S/4 Merchandise Management (Retail).

After an implementation phase of only about one year, the “SAP for Offprice” project was successfully put live at Zalando. As a result, numerous goals were achieved:

• Replacement of the self-developed ERP system with SAP S/4HANA
• Integration of the merchandise management processes of Outlets and Zircle into Zalando's central SAP S/4HANA system.
• Creation of a new level of inventory transparency for the business models involved
• Direct integration into the central finance and controlling processes
• Integration of warehouse management system
• Direct connection of the existing POS solution ROQQIO POS
• Increased automation of numerous Offprice business processes

The advantages for Zalando resulting from the implementation of the project are considerable. The offprice division now has a scalable solution that supports its ambitious growth targets. All departments involved - merchandising, logistics and shops - now work with uniform data due to the integration of the systems involved. This enables faster and better decisions and significantly increases efficiency.

The implementation of “SAP for Offprice” at Zalando was definitely associated with challenges that could only be implemented through the commitment of all those involved and the odd extra mile. We are all the more proud of the success of the project.