Tailor-Made


Experiences

We are working on new pilot projects to improve our delivery services and further adapt them to our customers’ individual lifestyles. Our “My Parcel Now” and “Parcify” pilots are aimed at making deliveries and returns even more convenient, quicker and more flexible.

“My Parcel Now” allows customers to decide exactly when they want to receive their delivery – within a 60 minutes timeframe after placing their order. We achieve this flexibility by temporarily storing packages at smaller storage units near the customer within the network of our partner Hoard, from where they are picked up by a bicycle courier and delivered at the customer’s preferred time. We tested this service as a pilot project in selected areas of Berlin between August and November 2017.

With "My Parcel Now"
bicycle couriers
deliver packages at
the customer's preferred time.

New Swimming Trunks Directly to the Lakeside?

We are also working on solutions to give customers greater flexibility in terms of delivery location. Ordering some new swimming trunks to be sent directly to the lakeside? No problem – thanks to location-based delivery. In this pilot project, which is currently being trialed in Antwerp, Brussels and Ghent, we are working with the Belgian start-up Parcify. When customers place an order, they can use a special Parcify address as the delivery address. Once the parcel is delivered to Parcify, customers are informed via a push notification in the Parcify app and can schedule the onward delivery to their preferred geolocation – whether they are out having a coffee, sunbathing in the park, or simply relaxing at home. During the pilot phase the service is free of charge for our customers.

As well as giving our
customers more flexibility,
these services are setting
new standards when
it comes to easy and
convenient delivery.

A Culture of Testing Is Part of Zalando’s DNA

We constantly trial new and innovative services so that we can develop a proposition that our customers really want. This means customer feedback is very important, and we take various approaches to connecting with our customers. In addition to customer surveys and contact through our Customer Care Team, we enable our employees to make part the “customer experience” by giving them the opportunity to work in logistics, join the Customer Care Team or deliver parcels to our customers for one day. That’s what Jan Bartels, VP Customer Fulfillment and Logistics at Zalando, did for the “My Parcel Now” service. His response: “It is always great to look into a customer’s eyes when we exceed their expectations or surprise them, and hear their immediate feedback on what they like about Zalando and what we could improve.”

It is always great to look into a customer’s eyes when we exceed their expectations.”

JAN BARTELS
VP CUSTOMER FULFILLMENT AND LOGISTICS

In 13 Minutes to the Customer

Flexibility and speed are key when it comes to managing returns, too. Let’s start with an impressive statistic: in Paris, the average time it takes for a bicycle courier to collect Zalando items that a customer wishes to return is just 13 minutes.

The return pick-up service within a two-hour timeslot and the premium delivery service including same-day delivery were launched in 2017 for around one million customers in Germany as part of our fashion service “Zalando Plus”.

Our services are built upon the experiences we have gained in corresponding pilot projects throughout Europe. In order to optimize both deliveries and returns, we start by assessing our customers’ wishes. These can vary from region to region. For example, delivery between 7pm and 9pm suits our customers in Berlin, whereas customers in Erfurt prefer to receive their deliveries a little earlier, between 6:30pm and 8:30pm.

We make customers happy
by varying our delivery services
from region to region.

We Drive “Green”

Cooperation with our local partners allows us to take differences like these into account. Their local delivery networks also mean we can try out more innovations. We are currently testing new delivery vehicles which could reduce our CO2 emissions. In Berlin, for example, we are testing deliveries using Tripl, an electric vehicle designed in Denmark with a large trunk at the front. After all, as well as meeting our customers’ needs, we want our services to be environmentally friendly.

SHOW ALL TOPICS