Zalando Plus, the German fashion e-tailer’s paid subscription initiative, has been discontinued. It has now become a free loyalty programme offering tier-based benefits to Zalando’s top customers. The initiative has been tested in Spain, and is now available in France and Austria.

The new version of Zalando Plus  Zalando

As customers qualify for the programme’s various tiers, they unlock features like a number of free express deliveries, special offers, and discounts. Zalando Plus members will also enjoy services such as back-in-stock alerts for searched products, discounts on favourite items, and priority processing by customer service.

Each tier is reached by accumulating points with each purchase. Also, by interacting with Zalando, for example subscribing to the newsletter, providing one’s birthday date, and contributing to the body measurement programme deployed by Zalando last year, allowing the site to base its recommendations on the member’s morphology.

“Whether you shop occasionally or regularly on Zalando, we want to offer you an experience that fits your individual needs,” said Riccardo Vola, head of Zalando’s Southern Europe region. “With Zalando Plus, we are forging a closer relationship with our customers by offering them a tailor-made experience based on their needs, which makes shopping on Zalando easier,” he added.

Zalando Plus subscribers, who previously used to pay €14.95 per year, will be reimbursed for their subscription, and will join a tier corresponding to their engagement. The change in Zalando Plus marks a break with the trend for premiumisation of e-tail services, which for example Amazon Prime had helped popularise with its free delivery service.

Zalando’s body measurement tool is used to generate personalised recommendations  Zalando

Zalando Plus has two million subscribers in Europe, and was first introduced in France and other European markets in February 2020. “Using the loyalty programme to increase conversion and improve overall engagement is strategic,” said Laura Toledano, managing director France, UK and Ireland at Zalando, who was recently interviewed by FashionNetwork.com. In Q3, Zalando will inaugurate a 140,000-square-metre logistics hub in Montereau-sur-le-Jard, France.

In 2023, the Zalando group generated a business volume of €14.6 billion, equivalent to a 1.1% downturn. Revenue fell by 1.9% to €10.1 billion, confirming the ceiling reached by the group in fiscal 2022, which led to planned cuts in the group’s workforce. Zalando showed signs it was beginning to get back on track in H1 2024.