ZEOS becomes fulfilment partner of choice for British fashion retailer NEXT in continental Europe

• British fashion retailer NEXT signed an agreement with Zalando’s B2B unit ZEOS to fulfil most of NEXT’s online direct-to-consumer business in continental Europe.
• The partnership will help NEXT reduce logistics complexity and maximise inventory productivity via one stock pool.
• This collaboration marks an important step in advancing the growth of ZEOS’ business on and off the Zalando platform.

Berlin, 21 November 2024 – ZEOS, the B2B unit of Zalando, signed a partnership agreement with UK-based online clothing retailer NEXT. ZEOS will become NEXT’s partner of choice for fulfilling online direct-to-consumer orders for most of continental Europe from Q4 2025. While NEXT has previously leveraged Zalando Fulfilment Solutions (ZFS) for the majority of its Zalando-based business, with this new agreement NEXT becomes a ZEOS Fulfilment customer expanding the collaboration to include NEXT’s own webshop and additional European marketplace business.

ZEOS is building an operating system for the fashion and lifestyle industry, empowering brands and retailers to manage multi-channel business across Europe within a unified logistics, software, and services platform. ZEOS’ technology solutions will enable NEXT to enhance inventory efficiency via a unified stock pool and an advanced order management system, seamlessly connecting ZEOS operations in continental Europe with the retailer’s logistics network in the UK. In addition, NEXT will benefit from a wide selection of local carriers, elevating customer experience through optimised delivery and returns processes.

Through the partnership with NEXT, ZEOS will further enhance its solutions and offer multi-channel fulfilment in further countries, bringing the total number of markets available on ZEOS to 24. Additionally, ZEOS will strengthen its network product to optimise inventory distribution, ensuring efficient stock allocation across the network to enable faster delivery times and maximise availability.

Simon Wolfson, CEO of NEXT, says: “This partnership combines Zalando’s outstanding operational infrastructure in continental Europe with the growing reach and strength of the NEXT brand. Our goal is to enhance stock availability and improve delivery speed for both our own, and Zalando’s customers.”

Jan Bartels, SVP ZEOS adds: “We are thrilled to deepen our partnership with NEXT, a company that is widely known in the industry for its unique assortment, operational excellence, and customer-centric service proposition. This collaboration highlights ZEOS’ commitment to delivering flexible and scalable solutions that help brands meet their growing demands across multiple channels.“

About NEXT

NEXT plc (LON: NXT) is an FTSE 100 company based in Leicester, England, and is one of the UK’s leading online clothing retailers. NEXT has around 460 stores in the UK and Ireland and an online presence in over 70 countries selling the NEXT brand and over 700 other fashion, home and beauty brands. NEXT has traded on the Zalando website since 2015.
 

About ZEOS

ZEOS is part of Zalando SE, leveraging the company’s infrastructure, technology, and expertise to build an operating system for fashion & lifestyle. Established in 2023, ZEOS is developing tools that allow brands and retailers to manage their multi-channel business in one place, for e-commerce transactions on and off Zalando. ZEOS builds on Zalando’s technology and infrastructure, comprising a pan-European network of 12 logistics centres, around 20 returns centres and more than 40 local transport service providers.