EQS-News: Zalando delivers strong Q3 growth with customer base surpassing 61 million; doubles down on sports opportunity, announcing partnership with German Football Federation 

Zalando delivers strong Q3 growth with customer base surpassing 61 million; doubles down on sports opportunity, announcing partnership with German Football Federation 

• In Q3, Zalando sustained its profitable growth trajectory and reported gross merchandise volume (GMV) growth of 21.6% to 4.2 billion euros and revenue growth of 26.5% to 3 billion euros, driven predominantly by the inclusion of ABOUT YOU
• Adjusted EBIT increases to 96 million euros from 93 million euros a year earlier
• On a pro-forma basis, GMV grows by 6.7% and revenue rises by 7.5%, fueled by a strong performance of both Zalando and ABOUT YOU
• In Business-to-Consumer (B2C), Zalando doubles down on sports opportunity, becomes a main partner of the German Football Federation (DFB)
• In Business-to-Business (B2B), Zalando sees major enterprise merchant wins, including expanded collaboration with British retailer Marks & Spencer
• Anna Dimitrova appointed as new CFO, starting 1 January 2026
• Full-year 2025 guidance confirmed on the back of strong year-to-date performance
   

Berlin, 6 November 2025 // Zalando SE (“Zalando”) delivered strong growth and improved profitability in the third quarter, boosted by the inclusion of ABOUT YOU and the successful execution of its ecosystem strategy to capture profitable growth across B2C and B2B. Zalando completed its strategic combination with Hamburg-based ABOUT YOU in July, allowing them to serve more customers and to provide more opportunities to partners across Europe.

In B2C, to build further on the strong growth momentum in the Sports business, Zalando today announced a strategic partnership with the German Football Federation (DFB) that will see it become a main partner for the Men’s, Women’s, and Youth National Teams. In B2B, Zalando continued to unlock and accelerate digital business opportunities for brands and retailers and expanded its collaborations with large-scale clients, including British retailer Marks & Spencer.

In the third-quarter, Zalando sustained its profitable growth trajectory and reported GMV growth of 21.6% to 4.2 billion euros and revenue growth of 26.5% to 3 billion euros, driven predominantly by the inclusion of ABOUT YOU. Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (adjusted EBIT) improved to 96 million euros, underlining the company’s focus on profitable growth. On a pro-forma basis as of 11 July, assuming ABOUT YOU had been part of the group in the prior-year period, third-quarter GMV increased by 6.7%, while revenue grew by 7.5% compared with the same period last year. 

“The third quarter demonstrates how we are relentlessly executing our strategy to embrace the immense opportunities in front of us and to capture profitable growth across both B2C and B2B,” said David Schröder, Zalando co-CEO. “The exciting new partnership with the German Football Federation DFB will allow us to boost our sports business further and to build an unparalleled sports experience for our customers, while our high calibre B2B partnerships showcase the superior value that we are able to deliver for brands and retailers with our unique e-commerce operating system.”

The execution of Zalando’s strategy to build the leading pan-European fashion and lifestyle e-commerce ecosystem have significantly expanded the company’s reach, leading to a combined active customer base of 61.4 million. This growth was primarily due to the inclusion of ABOUT YOU, in addition to the continued strong growth of both company’s individual customer bases.

This unparalleled reach showcases Zalando’s strong standing in Europe and broadens its market reach, giving it the opportunity to actively influence and shape the European fashion and lifestyle industry together with Zalando group’s more than 7,000 partnering brands. More than 5 million customers already take advantage of both the Zalando and ABOUT YOU platforms. The high share of unique customers on both platforms shows the appeal of the dual brand strategy, which Zalando will leverage to drive growth and to cover an even larger share of the 450 billion euro European fashion market.

Strategic deals with DFB and major marathons

Zalando today announced a five-year strategic partnership with the DFB which, with over 8 million memberships, is the largest sports association in the world. The significant collaboration makes Zalando a main partner of DFB’s Men's, Women's, and Youth teams until 2030, strengthening the company’s commitment to seamlessly weave Zalando into sports culture through strategic partnerships. This new partnership agreement presents an unparalleled opportunity to elevate Zalando's standing as a leading sports destination, just in time for the World Cup tournament, one of the world’s largest sporting events in 2026. 

Zalando also secured partnerships with key marathon events, namely in Rotterdam and Copenhagen. The company also strengthened cooperation with the Berlin Marathon as main sponsor. These partnerships exemplify Zalando’s commitment to expanding its lifestyle propositions and connecting with consumers.  

B2B delivers major client launches and deals

In B2B, where Zalando is building the ZEOS operating system for fashion and lifestyle e-commerce in Europe, the company continued to unlock and accelerate digital business opportunities for brands and retailers by removing existing inefficiencies and reducing the complexities of cross-border e-commerce in Europe.

ZEOS achieved a major milestone by expanding its collaboration with British retailer Marks & Spencer. The partnership will now cover fulfilment for the brand’s entire continental European e-commerce business, complementing existing operations on Zalando, ABOUT YOU and Amazon.

The inclusion of ABOUT YOU's subsidiary SCAYLE to the ZEOS software stack, providing Zalando with a prime enterprise shop system to support brands also on their own e-commerce channels, is also contributing to the strong traction in B2B. DEICHMANN, Europe’s leading shoe retailer, went live with SCAYLE in its home market Germany in August. Netto Marken-Discount, is enhancing its digital shopping experience through its partnership with SCAYLE, announced in September – laying a foundation for its 360-degree strategy as one of the leading players in German grocery retail. These partnerships show how SCAYLE can now deliver modern retail concepts efficiently and at scale across different verticals.

The B2B segment achieved combined revenues exceeding 277 million euros, marking a 15.6% increase year-over-year. Adjusted EBIT reached 20 million euros, with the adjusted EBIT margin seeing a strong increase of 4.3 percentage points, reaching 7.1%.

Anna Dimitrova appointed as CFO

On 29 October, Zalando announced that its supervisory board appointed Anna Dimitrova to join as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), bringing extensive experience across all aspects of finance. She will join the Zalando management board and assume responsibility for the Finance and Group Governance functions effective 1 January 2026. She currently serves as Group CFO at Deutsche Glasfaser and has previously held a series of senior leadership roles at Vodafone Group. Her experience in fast-moving, capital-intensive, technology-driven sectors positions her perfectly to support Zalando’s ecosystem strategy. David Schröder, who has served as interim CFO since March, will refocus his responsibilities as co-CEO.

Full-year 2025 guidance confirmed

On the back of its strong year-to-date performance, Zalando today also confirmed its full-year 2025 guidance, with expected pro-forma GMV and revenue growth of 4% to 7%, adjusted EBIT projected between 550 and 600 million euros, capital expenditures of 200 to 280 million euros, and a negative net working capital.

The third-quarter 2025 financial report and investor presentation will be available on the Zalando Investor Relations website. The company plans to release its full-year 2025 results on 12 March 2026.
 

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Zalando at a glance

* Definitions are available in the Annual Report 2024

**  Including ABOUT YOU results from the 11 July 2025 closing date onwards

About Zalando
Founded in Berlin in 2008, Zalando is Europe’s leading online multi-brand fashion destination. We are building a pan-European ecosystem for fashion and lifestyle e-commerce, along two growth vectors: Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B). In B2C, our two brands Zalando and ABOUT YOU, provide an inspiring, high-quality multi-brand shopping experience for fashion and lifestyle products, reaching more than 61 million active customers across 29 markets. In B2B, we offer a unique e-commerce operating system with ZEOS, Tradebyte and SCAYLE leveraging our logistics infrastructure, software, and service capabilities to support brands and retailers in managing and scaling their entire e-commerce business across Europe. 

For further information, please visit: corporate.zalando.com/en

Contact

Media inquiries           
Sarah Syed       
Business & Financial Communications   
presse@zalando.de 
 

Investor/Analyst inquiries
Patrick Kofler 
Investor Relations
investor.relations@zalando.de