Going the extra mile: Zalando inspires customers to stay active with Sports category

Dedicated content hubs and new expert brands make Zalando’s Sports category even more exciting

January 26, 2023
Fashion
Male model in running gear; two running positions

BERLIN, January 26, 2023 // The beginning of the year is traditionally the time to set new year’s resolutions. Doing more sports is almost always on top of the list. What better time to zoom in on Zalando’s Sports category and take a look at how it helps our customers to achieve these goals and feel good while doing so. Since its launch, the Zalando Sports category has evolved to become a place of inspiration on clothing, equipment and accessories for all types of workouts; be it training, running, football or exploring the outdoors.

Demand for our Sports assortment especially accelerated during the pandemic, when one of the few activities customers could still practise was working out at home. Last year, items for team sports were in demand at Zalando’s Sports category, as the majority of clubs and fields opened up again after the pandemic. Trail running was also of particular interest to our customers within the last year. With over 85 percent of Zalando’s general customer base telling us that they’re working out at least once a week, it’s an exciting opportunity for Zalando to help customers be active comfortably and in style. How do we achieve this in practice?

femal model working out in a living room setting

Dedicated Content Hubs create distinct onsite experience

In order to enable customers to become their best selves and to help them find the right product for their needs, our onsite experience plays a crucial role in serving and engaging our fast-growing customer base. In 2021 and 2022, we launched dedicated content hubs for Outdoor Sports, Running and Training, to ensure customers find products that fit to their specific training needs. In these hubs, brand stories, influencer content and actual athletes and sports people provide customers with guidance and inspiration around sports. Generally, the onsite experience within our Sports Home helps customers to effortlessly browse through our assortment.

Welcoming new expert brands on our platform

Portrait of Cornelius Lay

Next to these developments in the onsite experience, Zalando is doubling down on offering expert products, especially focusing on running, training & outdoor activities. At the beginning of last year, Zalando onboarded Brooks, one of the most well-known running brands. “Partnering with Brooks plays a huge part in offering our customers access to best-in-class, dedicated running products that will help them reach their individual goals,“ says Cornelius Lay, Director of Sports at Zalando. “We’re looking forward to connecting even more expert brands to our platform, enabling them to reach our more than 50 million customers in 25 markets and inspire them to work out.” Other brands such as Altra Running and Aim’n were also launched in 2022. And there are more exciting brand launches to come this year.

Zalando SE Boiler Plate EN

About Zalando

Founded in Berlin in 2008, Zalando is building the leading pan-European ecosystem for fashion and lifestyle e-commerce around two growth vectors: Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B). In B2C, we offer an inspiring and quality multi-brand shopping experience for fashion and lifestyle products to about 50 million active customers in 25 markets. In B2B, we are using our logistic infrastructure, software and service capabilities to help brands and retailers run and scale their entire e-commerce business, on or off Zalando. As an ecosystem, Zalando aims to enable positive change for the fashion and lifestyle industry.