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Zalando

Zalando is Europe's leading online platform for fashion and lifestyle, founded in Berlin in 2008 by university friends Robert Gentz and David Schneider as an online shoe shop. It now connects 62 million active customers with more than 7,000 brands across 29 markets and employs over 15,000 people.

E-commerceBerlinFounded 2008corporate.zalando.com
€12.3Brevenue in 2025, across Zalando and ABOUT YOUcorporate.zalando.com, "Zalando at a glance", read 2026-09-05
€17.6Bgross merchandise volume in 2025, across Zalando and ABOUT YOUcorporate.zalando.com, "Zalando at a glance", read 2026-09-05
62Mactive customers across 29 markets, with more than 7,000 brandscorporate.zalando.com, "Zalando at a glance", read 2026-09-05

The people

RG
Robert GentzCo-founderprofile coming
DS
David SchneiderCo-founderprofile coming

What they build

Zalando online shop — fashion and lifestyle across 29 markets
Zalando Partner Programme
Lounge by Zalando
Outlets by Zalando
ZEOS — logistics and fulfilment services for brands
Zalando Marketing Services
Zalando private labels

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Working at Zalando

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Open roles on the TechTO Job Board ↗Or their own careers page: corporate.zalando.com/careers ↗

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About

Zalando started in autumn 2008, days before the financial crisis, with an idea friends told the founders would never work: ordering shoes on the internet. Robert Gentz and David Schneider ran the first version out of a shared apartment on Berlin's Torstrasse that doubled as office and warehouse, carrying packages to the post office themselves and using their own mobile numbers as the customer hotline. Free delivery and a 100-day return window were the levers that made it work.

International expansion followed quickly — Austria and Switzerland, then the Netherlands and France in 2010 — and taught the company its defining lesson, when a TV campaign that worked in Germany was voted the Netherlands' most irritating advert two years running. Service, marketing and communication are now localised market by market.

Today Zalando describes itself as a technology platform rather than a retailer: it connects customers, brands and partners, runs a network of 12 fulfilment centres, and has attracted more than 3,000 technologists. Headquarters are in Berlin, with tech offices in Erfurt and Mönchengladbach and hubs in Dortmund, Dublin, Helsinki, Shenzhen, Stockholm and Zürich.

Across Zalando and ABOUT YOU, the company reported gross merchandise volume of roughly €17.6 billion and revenue of roughly €12.3 billion for 2025, with adjusted EBIT of about €590.7 million and 62 million active customers in 29 markets. Its management board is Robert Gentz, David Schneider, Dr Astrid Arndt and David Schröder.

Backers

Publicly listed as Zalando SE; the corporate site runs a full investor-relations section covering the share, the shareholder structure and its IPO. No private funding round is described on this page.

Quick answers

What is Zalando?

A European online platform for fashion and lifestyle, based in Berlin. It sells to 62 million active customers across 29 markets and also runs partner, logistics, outlet and marketing services for the brands on it.

Who founded Zalando and when?

University friends Robert Gentz and David Schneider founded it in Berlin in autumn 2008, starting as an online shoe shop run from a shared apartment on Torstrasse. Rubin Ritter joined the management board about two years later.

How big is Zalando?

For 2025 the company reported roughly €12.3 billion of revenue and €17.6 billion of gross merchandise volume across Zalando and ABOUT YOU, with adjusted EBIT of about €590.7 million and more than 15,000 employees.

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Maintained by TechTO · facts sourced and dated · last reviewed Sep 5, 2026