Zalando and Fiege Create New Prospects for Logistics Site in Brieselang

• Logistics provider Fiege to take over operations on April 1, 2019

• Fiege aims for conversion to a multi-user location

• As a customer of Fiege, Zalando intends to continue using logistics services in Brieselang
   

BERLIN, JANUARY 8, 2019 // Zalando, Europe's leading online platform for fashion and lifestyle, and the family-run logistics service provider, Fiege have developed a joint plan for the logistics center, Brieselang. The "future agreement" stipulates that Fiege is to operate the location from April 1, 2019 onwards. Fiege plans to provide logistics services for several clients in Brieselang thereafter, including Zalando. In April 2018, Zalando had promised a location guarantee until mid-2020. A conversion to a multi-user location by Fiege would open up prospects beyond that.

"Fiege is a very experienced logistics provider with whom we are already working successfully at other locations. Therefore, we are pleased that we can now further extend our long-term partnership at the Brieselang location," says David Schröder, SVP Convenience at Zalando.

"We firmly believe in the potential of the location. Our concept offers a future for Brieselang, which would not have existed before," says Christoph Mangelmans, Managing Director Fashion & Online Retail at Fiege. "We want to operate Brieselang as a multi-user center with new businesses, and thus additional customers besides Zalando. Together with the highly experienced employees in Brieselang, we will do everything to make this opportunity a long-term success and further develop the location."

Zalando acquired the Brieselang warehouse in 2011 as an existing property. With an area of ​​30,000 square meters, it is the smallest Zalando logistics center in Germany, while the custom built logistics locations in Lahr, Mönchengladbach and Erfurt are more than four times larger at 130,000 square meters. As a fast-growing company with more than 25 million customers in 17 European markets, Zalando has special requirements for its logistics locations. One challenge in Brieselang is the restrictions on capacity, meaning that only a comparatively small part of the product range can be stocked.

"Zalando offers its customers an almost limitless selection of 300,000 fashion and lifestyle articles. In Brieselang, we are reaching our spatial limits. In addition, modern automatization technologies, which are standard in our other logistics centres, can only be installed here to a limited extent. Over the years, it has therefore become increasingly difficult for us to operate the site efficiently for our purposes, and an end to Zalando in Brieselang was anticipated. It was therefore important for us to find a solution that would offer the employees a prospect for the future," says David Schröder.

​​​​​​​Employees stay on site - Zalando guarantees order volumes until at least 2020

Around 1,000 employees currently work in Brieselang. The future agreement stipulates that they will be employed by Fiege from April 1. In order to support the transition to a multi-user location, Zalando guarantees an order volume until at least mid-2020. In addition, Zalando aims to support the development with orders until mid-2024. "Brieselang and the committed team there have played a central role in Zalando's corporate development as the first logistics location. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that we support the future development of the site by continuing with part of our logistics in Brieselang. We wish to contribute to the success of their new strategy," says David Schröder.

"The logistics center in Brieselang is conveniently located and, with its proximity to the greater Berlin area, is an attractive location for e-commerce logistics," says Christoph Mangelmans. "We see great potential in successfully operating this location, particularly thanks to the experienced team of employees." Fiege is already active in the Berlin area at three locations in Rangsdorf, Großbeeren and Berlin.

The future agreement for Brieselang is currently in the consultation phase and is to be signed soon. Brieselang would then become the 186th logistics location in Fiege's international network.

ABOUT FIEGE
The Fiege Group, headquartered in Greven/Germany, is one of Europe’s leading logistics providers. Its competence lies particularly in the development and realisation of integrated supply chain systems, and it is considered a pioneer of contract logistics. In 2016, the Group generated a turnover of Euro 1.45 billion world-wide with a workforce of 12,338. 178 locations and co-operations based in 15 countries form a dense supply-chain network. 2.8 million square metres of warehouse and logistics space vouch for the company’s efficiency.