Zalando Reports Strong 2025 Growth Driven by AI Innovation, ABOUT YOU Integration and Expanding Fashion Platform

Zalando Reports Strong 2025 Growth Driven by AI Innovation, ABOUT YOU Integration and Expanding Fashion Platform

(IN BRIEF) Zalando reported strong financial results for 2025, with GMV increasing to €17.6 billion, revenue reaching €12.3 billion and adjusted EBIT rising to €591 million. Growth was supported by the integration of ABOUT YOU, expansion of the company’s B2C multi-app strategy and continued development of its B2B e-commerce operating system. Artificial intelligence played a central role in the company’s performance, improving marketing productivity, logistics optimization and customer personalization while supporting new innovations such as the Zalando Assistant and AI-powered discovery tools. The company also strengthened its B2B business through partnerships including a global agreement with Levi’s for the SCAYLE platform. Looking ahead to 2026, Zalando expects further growth and profitability improvements and announced a €300 million share buy-back programme as part of its capital allocation strategy.

(PRESS RELEASE) BERLIN, 13-Mar-2026 — /EuropaWire/ — Zalando, Europe’s technology platform for fashion and lifestyle, reported strong financial performance for 2025, achieving double-digit growth in gross merchandise volume (GMV), revenue and operating profit. The company’s results reflect continued progress in its business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) strategies, the integration of ABOUT YOU, and the expansion of artificial intelligence capabilities across its operations.

For the full year, group GMV increased by 14.7% to €17.6 billion, while revenue rose 16.8% to €12.3 billion. Adjusted EBIT reached €591 million, representing a 15.6% year-on-year increase. The company maintained a stable adjusted EBIT margin of 4.8%, while the stand-alone Zalando margin improved to 5.3%.

Co-CEO Robert Gentz said the company accelerated its strategy during the year by introducing major innovations across both B2C and B2B operations. He highlighted the importance of Zalando’s extensive data infrastructure and logistics network, developed over more than 17 years, which now supports the company’s growing use of artificial intelligence to enhance customer experiences, partner services and operational efficiency.

Artificial intelligence driving operational transformation

In 2025, Zalando expanded the use of AI across marketing, logistics and software development. The company increased the share of AI-generated product content from almost zero to around 90% within a year, reducing campaign production times from six weeks to just a few days while increasing content output by approximately 70%.

AI technologies were also applied to logistics operations. Advanced machine learning models helped optimize supply chain processes and improve the accuracy of delivery estimates, raising the precision of customer delivery promises by 22 percentage points.

The company also introduced new AI tools for its technology teams. By equipping approximately 3,000 engineers and developers with AI-assisted coding solutions, Zalando increased development productivity, with code change activity rising by more than 20%.

Looking ahead, the company plans to expand its AI-driven personalization capabilities. One focus area is personal matchmaking, a system designed to connect individual customers with the products, styles and sizes that best match their preferences. Powered by proprietary AI models, the technology has already generated a 13% increase in items added to shopping baskets.

Zalando’s Size & Fit AI, which uses real body measurement data from over one million customers, helps shoppers select the correct clothing size in advance. The tool has reduced size-related returns by more than 8%, improving both customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.

The company is also expanding its Zalando Assistant, transforming it into a conversational shopping tool capable of learning users’ style preferences and recommending products. Engagement with the assistant grew significantly in 2025, reaching six million users, four times more than the previous year.

To further advance this vision, Zalando has partnered with Qutwo, a European artificial intelligence laboratory, to develop lifestyle-focused digital agents capable of supporting conversational commerce experiences.

Early leadership in agentic commerce

Zalando is also positioning itself at the forefront of agentic commerce, a new retail channel where consumers interact with AI assistants to discover and purchase products. Industry forecasts suggest this channel could account for up to 15% of global online retail transactions by 2030.

As part of this strategy, Zalando has become one of the first European launch partners for Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol, which allows customers to browse and purchase fashion products directly through AI chat systems such as Gemini. Because Zalando is already the most frequently referenced fashion platform by conversational AI services, this integration is expected to expand the company’s reach to new customer groups.

Multi-app strategy strengthens B2C growth

Zalando’s B2C business continued to expand during 2025, supported by a multi-app strategy targeting different customer segments. The group now operates three primary consumer apps: the flagship Zalando app, the trend-focused ABOUT YOU app, and Lounge by Zalando, which focuses on daily deals and outlet-style offers.

Through this approach, Zalando reached a record 62 million active customers during the year. The company also strengthened customer engagement through its Plus loyalty programme, which is now available in 17 markets and has attracted 16.8 million members. Members generated nearly half of the group’s GMV during the fourth quarter of 2025.

Another new feature is an AI-powered discovery feed, which is used by more than nine million weekly users and aims to transform the platform into a daily lifestyle destination rather than simply a transactional shopping platform.

Zalando also expanded its product assortment beyond fashion into adjacent lifestyle categories such as sports, beauty, kids and family products and designer fashion, all of which grew by approximately 13% during the year. The company strengthened its sports category through new partnerships, including a five-year agreement with the German Football Association (DFB) and sponsorship of major European marathon events.

B2B platform expansion and global partnerships

In the B2B segment, Zalando continues to develop its digital operating system for fashion e-commerce. This system provides brands and retailers with logistics, marketplace integration and e-commerce software solutions designed to simplify cross-border commerce across Europe.

B2B revenue increased 14.6% to €1.1 billion, while adjusted EBIT in this segment more than doubled. Zalando’s B2B platform now serves more than 1,200 merchants, supporting approximately €11 billion in GMV.

The group’s B2B ecosystem includes three major components: ZEOS, which provides logistics and fulfillment services; SCAYLE, which offers e-commerce software and marketplace technology; and Tradebyte, which helps brands integrate with online marketplaces.

A significant milestone in 2025 was a new global partnership between SCAYLE and Levi Strauss & Co. Under the agreement, SCAYLE will operate the e-commerce infrastructure for levi.com across North America and Europe, marking a major expansion into the US software market.

Another example of the B2B platform’s impact was a partnership between ZEOS and the UK retailer Next, which helped the company increase international online sales by 33% while reducing fulfillment costs by 6.5%.

Outlook for 2026 and capital return to shareholders

Looking ahead to 2026, Zalando expects continued growth and profitability improvements. The company forecasts GMV and revenue growth of between 12% and 17%, with adjusted EBIT projected between €660 million and €740 million.

The integration of ABOUT YOU is progressing faster than expected, with Zalando now targeting €100 million in annual synergies by 2028, a full year earlier than initially planned.

The company also reaffirmed its medium-term targets for 2028, including an adjusted EBIT margin of 6% to 8% and an annual compound growth rate of 8% to 13% for GMV and revenue between 2023 and 2028.

Following the strong financial performance and continued cash generation, Zalando announced a share buy-back programme of up to €300 million, equivalent to roughly 5% of the company’s outstanding shares. The repurchased shares are intended to be cancelled.

Chief Financial Officer Anna Dimitrova stated that the company remains focused on delivering long-term value through disciplined capital allocation while continuing to invest in growth. Zalando plans to invest between €240 million and €300 million in technology infrastructure and platform development to strengthen its position within Europe’s €500 billion fashion market.

Zalando will publish its first-quarter 2026 results on 6 May 2026, while the full 2025 Annual Report and earnings presentation are available through the company’s investor relations platform.

About Zalando

Founded in Berlin in 2008, Zalando is the leading European technology platform for fashion and lifestyle. Connecting 62 million active customers with more than 7,000 brands across 29 markets, our business is built on a unique AI-powered data and infrastructure platform. For our customers, our multi-app approach – comprising Zalando, ABOUT YOU, and Lounge by Zalando – delivers an inspiring, highly personalized shopping experience, serving different customers with different needs. For our partners, we are building the operating system for e-commerce. Through ZEOS, Tradebyte, and SCAYLE, we open our logistics, software, and service capabilities to brands and retailers, enabling them to seamlessly scale their businesses across borders.
For further information, please visit: corporate.zalando.com/en

Media Contacts:

Sarah Syed
Head of Business and Financial Communications
presse@zalando.de

Patrick Kofler
Director of Investor Relations
investor.relations@zalando.de

SOURCE: Zalando