Bringing fashion to the next level
with conversational commerce.
At the beginning of 2017, Zalando addressed Vizions, Europe’s first platform conference, with the statement “Build platforms, not walls”. We innovate and cooperate in order to position ourselves as a true platform where every player in the fashion ecosystem can grow together.
The key to our platform strategy is partnership: with brands, with influencers, with technologists and start-ups, and with other platforms. In 2017, we took a big step forward with adidas thanks to the pilot integration of their shoe customization tool, miadidas, on our online store. We expanded our vast assortment as our partner program was boosted by the arrival of Oysho, Pull&Bear, Nike, Esprit, schuhe.de, Vans, Timberland, Bogner and many more. And as the world’s most fashionable tech company, we partnered with platform major-leaguers Google and Facebook to bring online shopping to the next level.
Our Gift Finder in collaboration with Google Assistant uses conversational commerce to inspire and assist.
As a customer-centric company, we have to be where the consumer is, constantly innovating in order to address emerging and foreseeable customer needs and pain points.“
NICOLAS BORG
VP STRATEGY
Fashion Doesn’t
Stand Still
Fashion doesn’t stand still, and nor does the technology that lets us experience it. Our capabilities and the opportunities available to us are growing all the time. Conversational commerce is one such development – and thanks to our partnership with Google Assistant, the Zalando Gift Finder is allowing us to encounter customers in an entirely new environment. “People are spending more and more time on social apps. As a customer-centric company, we have to be where the consumer is, constantly innovating in order to address emerging and foreseeable customer needs and pain points”, explains Nicolas Borg, VP Strategy at Zalando.
With the Gift Finder chatbot, customers can use the Google Assistant to ask for help in finding a gift. In a fun and personalized experience, the chatbot asks the user a series of questions to identify the perfect fashion gift. With the customer’s answers at hand, the assistant then draws from Zalando’s huge online product range to make recommendations. The idea is to replicate the kind of advice and guidance one might find in a small boutique store; the customer knowing their preferences, and the retailer (represented by the bot) knowing which items best match those preferences.
Borg calls partnerships of this kind a “triple win”, explaining: “It’s a win for the consumer, a win for the partner, and a win for us.” Consumers gain new experiences that are accessible and engaging, partners are provided with valuable use cases, and Zalando can access new consumers we may not have been able to reach before.
Each new partnership and project is an opportunity to test, learn, and iterate. The Gift Finder Assistant with Google Assistant has proved just that.
