Zalando Strategy in Action: Entering a new era of emotional commerce
Zalando Strategy in Action: Entering a new era of emotional commerce
How Zalando is redefining online shopping with inspiration, confidence, and fun
How Zalando is redefining online shopping with inspiration, confidence, and fun

E-commerce in Europe has existed for roughly 30 years, yet the experience has remained largely the same. Online shops still follow a familiar pattern: customers land on a home screen, browse a catalogue, and check out. Quick and easy – that was the goal for a long time, including at Zalando.
But customer expectations are changing. Convenience alone is no longer enough. Younger generations like Gen Z, in particular, are redefining what online shopping could be. 72% of purchase decisions are made while looking for inspiration, and 70% of that inspiration happens online. Search for #OOTD (outfit of the day) on Instagram and you’ll find over 450 million posts; ‘Get ready with me’ has nearly 450 million on TikTok. Primarily on social media, people use fashion to share moments of self-expression, creating a clear demand for inspiration and style discovery.
What does this mean for Zalando as an e-commerce company? It reflects our strategy in action – stepping into a new era of emotional commerce, where inspiration, confidence, and fun matter just as much as convenience.
Here’s how we’re bringing this vision to life across the customer journey.
Elevated content: Beyond white backgrounds
Fashion moves fast – and so do customer expectations. For a long time, product images on Zalando showed items on white backgrounds. Today’s customers want more: they want to see products in context, styled and brought to life. That’s why we’re investing in elevated content to keep pace with culture and make shopping more intuitive and inspiring.
In Q4 2024, around 70% of our editorial campaign images were AI-enhanced, cutting production time from weeks to days and reducing costs by up to 90%. This means we can react to trends like “brat summer” in under 24 hours instead of waiting 2–4 weeks. Videos, richer visuals, and contextual imagery not only keep our campaigns fresh and relevant but also drive results: elevated content shows +10% higher engagement and helps reduce return rates.
We’re taking it even further with digital twins – high-fidelity replicas of real models. They mirror a model’s appearance and movement, allowing us to create high-quality, campaign-level visuals efficiently while maintaining accuracy and authenticity. By combining digital twins with product photoshoots, we create seamless experiences that guide customers from inspiration to confident purchase decisions.
Size Profile: Making sizing easier and simpler
Inspiration is only part of the journey. Once customers find something they love, the next question is: will it fit? For years, Zalando has tackled this challenge with personalised recommendations, size flags, and body measurement tools – all backed by our in-house team combining deep fashion expertise, data science, and real-life fitting specialists. And it works: where size advice is available, returns drop by 10%.
But customers don’t think in features – they think in experiences. That’s why we’ve redesigned Size Profile into one simple, intuitive flow that combines everything from your body measurements and size references to our Virtual Fitting Room in a single place, making it easier than ever to choose the right size with confidence.
This update is the main driver of the sizing journey, helping customers reduce returns and over-ordering while feeling sure that what they choose will fit. It also lays the groundwork for future sizing innovations as part of our broader Fit First approach – making shopping simpler, more accurate, and truly personal, allowing customers to start their shopping journey from a selection of items we know will fit them well.
AR Shoe Try-on: Bringing footwear to life with AR
Of course, fit is not all. seeing how a product actually looks on you matters just as much. With our new 3D and AR shoe try-on, customers can rotate, zoom in, and see every detail as if holding the shoe in-store. AR try-on goes further, letting them check how sneakers look on their own feet in real time, right from home.
While our Size & Fit team ensures shoes fit comfortably through personalised recommendations and size flags, AR Try-On adds another layer – helping customers explore appearance, colours, materials, and design, and see how a shoe matches their style before a purchase. Both experiences work hand in hand to reduce returns and build confidence in every choice.
We’re rolling out these immersive experiences to 10,000 footwear SKUs this year, with plans to grow to 35,000 in 2026 and 70,000 by 2027. As we expand, AR will enhance how customers explore footwear online, making the journey more visual, engaging, and confident.
Beauty Try-on: Adding confidence to beauty choices
Just like with fashion and footwear, confidence is everything in beauty. Whether it’s choosing a face cream for their skin type, a lip gloss, or a fragrance to complete their look, customers want to feel certain it’s the right choice. That’s why we’re investing in richer visuals, real-life content, and creator-led formats that help customers see themselves in the experience.
One upcoming feature taking this further is the virtual beauty try-on. While virtual try-on isn’t new to the beauty industry, Zalando is integrating it differently – embedding it seamlessly within the broader inspiration journey. Instead of being buried deep on product pages, it appears naturally within the inspiration flow, when customers are browsing a look or discovering a trend. Using Augmented Reality, they can see how beauty products look on them instantly, making the experience seamless and personal.
Starting with a curated selection of products, Zalando will learn how customers use virtual try-on in a fashion-led context, moving towards making beauty shopping as inspiring and empowering as fashion.
Boards: Curating style and building connection
Confidence comes from more than appearance and fit; it’s also about feeling connected and inspired. At Zalando, we see this in how customers shop and express themselves. That’s why we launched Boards, offering curated selections of products and content based on themes or trends, like “New Boho,” one of our most popular. We then introduced Creator Boards, giving customers inspiration directly from the fashion icons and creators they follow. And we see that customers like it: Since the beginning of the year, the number of total users but also the number of weekly users for Boards have tripled.
Now, we’re taking it further. In a pilot running across all markets, customers can create their own Boards – curating products, looks, and inspiration based on their personal style, from workout edits to morning beauty routines. It’s a first step towards building a deeper sense of community on Zalando, where customers can explore and share what moves them in one place.
Boards reflect how people actually shop: not in categories, but in moods, aesthetics, and lifestyles. 76% of Zalando customers already shop across multiple categories, and these customers spend more and return more often. Whether it’s a ‘clean girl aesthetic’ with soft knits and calming skincare, or a festival look with shimmer eyeshadow and setting spray, Boards bring everything together into one curated experience, making shopping more inspiring, expressive, and connected.
E-commerce is entering a new era – one defined by connection, confidence, and inspiration. At Zalando, we’re steering all our efforts towards building experiences that go beyond transactions, supporting customers at every step of their journey.
Stay tuned – there’s more to come.
A glimpse into the future of e(motional)-commerce
In our annual “Strategy in Action” Roundtable we invited journalists and stakeholders to take a look behind the scenes and into the machine room of Zalando.
Zalando SE Boiler Plate EN
About Zalando
Founded in Berlin in 2008, Zalando is Europe’s leading online multi-brand fashion destination. We are building a pan-European ecosystem for fashion and lifestyle e-commerce, along two growth vectors: Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B). In B2C, we provide an inspiring, high-quality multi-brand shopping experience for fashion and lifestyle products to more than 52 million active customers across 25 markets. In B2B, we leverage our logistics infrastructure, software, and service capabilities to support brands and retailers in managing and scaling their entire e-commerce business, both on and off the Zalando platform. Through our ecosystem vision, Zalando aims to enable positive change in the fashion and lifestyle industry.
Contact Corporate Communications
Corporate Communications
press@zalando.com