‘Faster than ever before’: Why Zalando is betting on AI

The Berlin-based online fashion retailer Zalando SE highlighted one topic in particular when it presented its latest annual results and future roadmap last Thursday: the use of artificial intelligence (AI) across the entire value chain.

The management expects this to provide future growth drivers. It was also able to quantify specific positive effects. “For us at Zalando, AI is more than just a tool. It is a powerful catalyst for innovations that increase growth and efficiency,” emphasised co-CEO David Schröder during the presentation.

The e-commerce specialist has achieved success with the use of AI in a wide range of areas, from its digital presence and sales process to logistics. These successes demonstrate the comprehensive integration of AI solutions into the business model. According to the group, they already increased “efficiency and productivity throughout the company” last year. Zalando relies on a vast dataset built up over many years, which now forms the basis for new, more sophisticated applications.

Massive expansion of AI-based content production

The impact on marketing was particularly profound. In 2025, the company scaled “its AI-generated product content from almost zero to 90 percent within one year,” explained Zalando, outlining the specific benefits: “This reduced the creation time for campaigns from six weeks to a few days and increased the number of content pieces created by 70 percent.” The management emphasised that these speed and productivity advantages were achieved without increasing the corresponding costs.

The online retailer also presented gradual improvements in other areas of application. The precise personalisation of offers increased the number of items in customers' baskets by 13 percent. At the same time, the number of “size-related” returns was reduced by eight percent through data-based, AI-supported size recommendations. The company is also pinning its hopes on the further optimisation of its AI-driven discovery feed, which is intended to further deepen the personalisation of the search and shopping experience.

Progress in logistics and IT development

Zalando also made progress in planning its delivery processes. The company explained that the use of AI models improved the real-time accuracy of delivery dates by 22 percentage points over the past year. This is a significant step forward in an area that is a high priority for customers.

In IT development, where 3,000 employees work at Zalando, the use of AI tools also led to a considerable acceleration. The management explained that the company registered “an increase of over 20 percent in code changes” last year.

“We are moving faster than ever before,” emphasised co-CEO Robert Gentz during the presentation. “Projects that used to take years can now be realised within weeks.”

Zalando aims to become a pioneer in ‘agentic commerce’

The management already has the next steps in its sights. Zalando is aiming to take on a pioneering role in agentic commerce in Europe. This is “a future market that is expected to account for 15 percent of online retail by 2030,” the company explained.

“As one of only two European launch partners for Google's Universal Commerce Protocol, Zalando is building the foundation for the discovery and purchase of fashion and lifestyle products directly via AI chatbots like Gemini,” a statement said. “As Zalando is already recommended as the preferred fashion platform by conversational AI systems, this early integration secures the company's access to new target groups.”

This article was translated to English using an AI tool.

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