From the attic to abroad: How Never Fully Dressed are scaling for success with Zalando

Key figures

• +27% NMV Growth YoY Globally
• +48% NMV Growth YoY for DE
• +413% YoY customers in the past 12 months
• Live in 22 countries
• Launched Petite and Tall in AW20
• Offers extended sizes up to size 54, featured on the Zalando size inclusivity homepage

Introducing Never Fully Dressed

Founded in 2009, Never Fully Dressed (NFD) has grown from its humble beginnings as a small concept store in Essex to an Instagram favorite. Founder Lucy Aylen was influenced by her parents, who worked at markets in East London, and started the business initially customizing clothing in her parents’ attic to then sell at Spitalfields and Portobello market.

What happens when there is great customer demand and an ever-growing social media following? Magic! Lucy uncovered that there was interest in her unique, bright, and fun prints. Loyal customers from the market began sharing their outfits across socials which allowed NFD to establish a social tone of voice. Among these were styling videos that demonstrated how items could be dressed up or down and worn in many different styles, perfect for the modern day, busy trend-setter.

Fast forward to today, when NFD leverages Zalando’s Wholesale business model to extend its reach beyond the UK to tap into a wider audience, all while maintaining its organic and authentic customer influencers. We caught up with NFD Wholesale Assistant Ella Parker to understand how despite being a small business with limited resources and processes, NFD is able to successfully connect with customers across Europe with Zalando.

Before we delve into the story, what is Wholesale?

Wholesaling is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers or marketplaces that then sell the products to the end consumer. This partnership model enables brands to leverage Zalando as a powerful sales channel while Zalando takes care of operations and inventory.

Zalando got in touch with NFD and since joining, “we sell to customers in all 23 European countries. There are no exceptions.” Overall, NFD’s direct-to-consumer business has grown massively. They are now live in 80 countries globally. “And a part of that has been growing our Wholesale model”, Ella says, “in particular being strategic about who we partner with and which markets we expand into.”

“As a small company with limited resources, we were initially concerned about the complexity of the business and operations with Zalando. Some of our thoughts were how can a small company with a small headcount do well on a platform like Zalando? We’re very manual so how can we drive the business forward?”

Zalando and NFD worked on fostering a close relationship where there are regular catch-ups and trade meetings to closely pay attention to and guide the performance of NFD. By analyzing what worked in a different market (DACH) versus their own channel (UK), they got a better understanding of how to trade and what to offer to Zalando. And while it's a work in progress, NFD is thriving! How?

Plan, plan, and plan again.

“The growth of our team throughout the pandemic has been stellar. The headcount has pretty much doubled in the last 18 months. We’re currently at 32 employees! As we’re focusing a lot on Wholesale, we’ve ramped up resources for that remit to three employees.”

One of the biggest challenges for NFD is inventory management. As a wholesaler, it’s key to assess stock levels across SKUs (stock keeping units) while juggling both customer orders and inventory costs. The most effective way to achieve this is with inventory forecasts and planning.

“Due to the size of our business and ways of working, we are very much dedicated to end-to-end planning and delivery. We have initial planning with a Zalando contact and then use the tools available to set about managing our stock ongoing. Planning is really where it’s at and what has kept us on track.”

Seize the data.

“The sales and stock report is used weekly. We have a detailed look into NFD on Zalando, so we can understand the bestsellers in a timely manner and take action.”

“What the available data has really helped us to do is have conversations internally about the products needed for wholesale. As Zalando is a completely different demographic to our own website, it’s great to go into conversations within the business with the insights to make requests. We review the data and can then say ok I need this and this. We’ve been able to develop a more inclusive assortment, offering different sizes exclusively for Zalando.”

Create transparent, engaging, and exciting customer experiences.

NFD sees that seasonalities work well for their product, leveraging Zalando Marketing Services (ZMS) for seasonal campaigns and additional reach to really spotlight and story tell around these releases. During the campaign period, NFD saw a +129% increase in Active Customers vs the last year. Additionally, offering exclusives for Zalando helps with growing hype and demand.

“Recently we’ve gone back to buying smaller runs, we identify key pieces such as our jaspre skirt which is always a bestseller, and try to keep the exclusivity exciting and fresh for customers!”

Future Outlook

“We imagine some big challenges for the future, specifically in regards to freight charges and customs, especially for a smaller business. A lot of what I just mentioned will impact our bottom line and margins.”

“Despite that, we’re still ready for 2022! We want to reach new territories (strategically, of course) and open up our portfolio to new assortments and accessories to really make NFD a holistic lifestyle brand. While there are challenges, I’m very excited to see what the future holds!”

Please note that we currently offer wholesale on invitation only. If you want to be in the driver’s seat to start selling on Zalando, check out our other partnership models: the Partner Program and Connected Retail.