Zalando Doubles Down on Luxury and Exclusivity to Capture High-Earner Potential

Zalando, the European fashion and lifestyle eTailer, is elevating the “designer experience” on its website and app by introducing a luxury boutique-style space dedicated to designer brands.

The redesigned “Designer” destination aims to provide a revitalized and inspirational shopping experience, allowing designers to share their stories, showcase collections, campaigns, and collaborations through design elements in a uniquely elevated and curated space.

Consumers can expect a variety of brands like Lardini, Aspesi, Bally, Helmut Lang, Proenza Schouler White Label, Victoria Beckham, Missoni, Rabanne, Vivienne Westwood, 032C, GCDS, Peter Do, Ahluwalia, Ralph Lauren, and Emporio Armani.

This move is part of Zalando’s focus on providing a great customer experience and inspiration and follows the introduction of “Stories on Zalando,” a visual-first shopping experience created with Highsnobiety. The initiative lets customers explore fashion and culture trends, personalities, and exclusive brand collaborations, featuring designer brands like GmbH and Ludovic de Saint Sernin, as well as exclusive collaborations like MM6xChenpeng.

This step also falls in line with Zalando’s earlier efforts to increase memberships through exclusive shopping initiatives.

In December, PYMNTS reported that the Berlin-based online fashion retailer was introducing an invitation-only access to limited and highly sought-after items.

Individuals interested in exclusive limited editions and brand collaborations could request an invitation to make purchases through the Zalando app before the official sales launch. Upon receiving an invitation, they could purchase the item within a specified time frame.

Zalando mentioned that members enrolled in the Zalando-Plus membership program had a higher likelihood of receiving invitations, as a portion of desirable products was reserved for them. Pascal Hahn, VP of transactions at Zalando, stated in a release that their invite-only approach is a win-win-win for customers, brand partners, and the company itself.

The first product offered was the Fenty x Puma Avanti shoe.

Membership and Exclusivity

According to PYMNTS Intelligence’s “Subscription Commerce Readiness Report: The Loyalty Factor,” loyal customers, the most valuable subscribers, play a big role in retail subscription commerce revenue.

These committed subscribers remain faithful to the brands they subscribe to, spending an average of $65 per month per subscription and maintaining their subscriptions for about 30 months. This long-term commitment results in a projected lifetime value (LTV) exceeding $2,500.

One attractive trait of loyal customers, as highlighted in the PYMNTS Intelligence study, is their higher income. The research shows that more than half of these valuable subscribers, about 53%, earn over $100,000 annually. This means loyal customers have the financial means to stick with their subscriptions and actively engage with the products or services offered by the merchants.

Moreover, loyal customers are mostly millennials or bridge millennials, indicating that younger generations are more likely to show strong loyalty to retail subscriptions.