How to prepare for your first Zalando Fulfilment Solutions shipment

New beginnings are very exciting! But we know that it can also be challenging if you aren’t familiar with the processes and tools. That’s why we prepared this summary with all the information you need to successfully ship your first delivery to ZFS. 

To begin, please ensure that:

• You have familiarised yourself with the ZFS team, the ZFS onboarding journey, our processes and how to communicate with us by going through the ZFS onboarding information attached. 

• You have downloaded and completed all necessary steps in our Get ready to ship checklist attached.

This includes: 

• Completing your zDirect Account setup

• Submitting your forecast 

• Making sure your articles you want to ship are correctly onboarded and customs cleared (if applicable)

• Using packaging and labels that are in compliance with our standards 

You are now ready to submit your Shipping notice to send your inventory to a Zalando warehouse:

• In the zDirect tool, you create a Shipping notice request at least five working days prior to the delivery date. This will advise Zalando of your planned inbound articles.

• After the request submission, you receive a confirmation of the assigned warehouse and the delivery date.

• Please prepare the transport of the onboarded goods and confirm the final quantities no later than 24 hours prior to the confirmed delivery date.

Time to dispatch! Please ensure that you and your carrier:

• Follow our delivery specifications 

• Book a delivery time slot via Mercareon (applicable for palletized deliveries)

Once your goods are shipped by your carrier, they will be received at a Zalando warehouse:

• If you correctly followed the previous steps, the warehouse will accept the shipment

• Pallets / parcels will be unloaded

• Goods will be inspected according to Zalando’s quality standards

• Items will be received and stowed in the warehouse. These articles will be visible in the Receive report on zDirect

• If articles cannot be processed, they will temporarily be stored in Quarantine storage / VAS areas to be received into the warehouse on a later date, or returned to you

• Ensure your shipment gets correctly processed in the Zalando warehouse by following the steps outlined here. 

To clarify any topics regarding your first shipment, please feel free to contact us via your Shipping notice request or, if you are still integrating, reach out to your Integration manager.

We look forward to receiving your first shipment!