It may not be headline news, but Zalando has commissioned new research to highlight the impact it makes on Europe’s economy and the numbers it has come up with are impressive.

And as well as allowing Zalando to pat itself on the head, it underlines the importance of the fashion sector as a whole to the world economy.

International research and advisory firm Oxford Economics has produced an assessment of the company’s direct and indirect economic impact. 

And it concluded that In 2023, Zalando supported a total gross value added (GVA) of just under €9.522 billion in Europe. Almost 60% of this effect was driven by the company’s supply chain. 

The company spent a significant amount on procuring fashion stocks, as well as non-merchandise products like IT services needed for supporting the functionality of the fashion store and app. The European countries benefiting most from the economic activity stimulated by Zalando’s supply chain included Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Italy, and France.

Meanwhile, wage payments by Zalando and its suppliers stimulated 25% of the total gross value added (the induced effect). With €1.5 billion, the direct effect accounted for 16% of Zalando’s total economic impact in terms of gross value added in Europe.

The report said over 97% of the company’s procurement is from Europe, with Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy being major beneficiaries. Smaller businesses also profit from Zalando’s logistics and fulfilment capabilities.

In 2023, the business supported 113,000 jobs across the continent and in Germany alone, its home market, the company contributed €4.81 billion to GDP and supported 53,000 jobs.

Some 15,000 of these jobs were direct employees of Zalando, with another 27,000 jobs supported through its supply chain with German suppliers and 11,000 supported via the induced effect, representing economic activities in typical consumer sectors that are triggered by wage payments of Zalando and its suppliers.

With its own large-scale logistics centre in the city of Erfurt, Thuringia, Zalando said it contributed a total gross value added of €144 million to the local GDP. This was made up of a direct contribution of €119.5 million; a further €6.8 million in gross value added stimulated through the company’s supply chain; and wage payments by Zalando and its suppliers in Erfurt supported the remaining €17.6 million in gross value added, stimulated through spending in the consumer economy.