Global sportswear brand × Zalando Partner Programme: relaunched and scaled across Europe
The Problem
A global sportswear and lifestyle footwear brand had lost its place on Zalando’s Partner Programme. Following a change in ownership, the brand had been pulled from the channel entirely, and the new licensee inherited a business with real consumer demand still there and nothing live to meet it. They came to Luzern with a clear brief: get the brand back on Zalando fast, then build a scalable multi-marketplace business across Europe on top of it.
The Luzern Solution
We ran the relaunch in two phases.
The first was about speed. Working from limited available stock, we had the brand’s first styles live on Zalando in Germany less than four weeks after the contract was signed. We stood up a 3PL in Venlo to receive inventory and ship into Zalando Fulfilment, created listings for over 100 styles, and launched across eight core EU regions in time for the new season.
Demand came back faster than the B2B purchase model could supply. Rather than let that cap growth, we modelled out a consignment supply chain with the full season allocation positioned on consignment. That did two things for the brand. It unlocked the full demand potential on the channel, and it freed up cash and protected margin, because the brand was no longer buying and holding stock in order to grow.
From there we scaled. With inventory in position and content ready, 500 new styles went live on Zalando inside two weeks. The scale we had built then justified opening the brand up well beyond Zalando, into more than 20 new regional sales channels from a single inventory position, including Amazon 3P, ASOS, About You, VeePee and Decathlon, plus a full off-price programme to clear end-of-window stock without discounting the core business. All of it ran through one platform and one team, so the brand added channels and markets without adding headcount or operational load.
Results
- €32M+ Zalando Partner Programme activation
- 800+ new styles launched across 8 core EU regions
- Fully optimised supply chain through ZEOS
- All within a <6 week onboarding programme
- 20+ additional new regional 3P channels live within 9 months
