Zalando Fulfilment Solutions network zoning
In this article we explain what network zoning is, how network zoning impacts your customers (incl. long-distance delivery fees) and share our recommendations on how you can optimize your network usage.
In this article, we explain what network zoning is, how network zoning impacts your customers (incl. long-distance delivery fees) and share our recommendations on how you can optimise your network usage.
How does network zoning work?
Zalando has built Europe's largest fashion-specific fulfilment network. To ensure we offer our customers fast and sustainable delivery options, our fulfilment network is split up into three zones: the South-West (SW) Zone, the North-East (NE) Zone and the Mixed Zone.
Each zone has a number of warehouses assigned to it (see the image below), that serve the markets within the same zone, according to our usual delivery lead times. Customers are still able to see stock located outside of their network zone, but these items will be marked as long-distance. More on this in section two: How does zoning impact customers’ shopping experience?
In addition, the warehouses within a certain zone are interconnected. This means that if a customer places a multi-item order, and the respective articles are spread out across different warehouses within the same zone, the articles will be collected and sent as one parcel. If articles in a multi-brand order are located in different zones, they will be shipped individually.
For example: A customer in Spain (SW zone) orders three articles: two of the articles (A and B) are located in different warehouses within the same zone (SW zone), while the third article (C) is located in a warehouse in Poland (NE zone). The customer will now receive two shipments. The first shipment, containing articles A and B, will be delivered first. The shipment containing article C will be delivered with a longer lead time, reflecting the longer distance from the warehouse to the customer.
Please note that network zoning describes a general rule, to which there are some exceptions.
An important exception worth mentioning is that deliveries from the Verona and Madrid warehouses will be treated as long distance deliveries if the order is placed from the Netherlands, Belgium or France, even though they are all located in the South-West Zone.
How does zoning impact customers’ shopping experience?
In order to keep delighting our customers with the widest assortment and choice, articles outside of a customer’s network zone will continue to be offered. However, they will be flagged as having longer delivery times and a long-distance delivery fee. Please note: The long-distance shipping surcharge does not apply for PLUS customers, who can order items outside of their network zone with no additional charge. Below are some examples of how network zoning shows up in the customer experience:
1. Catalog
2. Product detail page
3. Check-out
At checkout, the customer is provided with a breakdown of the parcel split and the article that will be charged with a delivery fee. A long-distance delivery fee will be charged only once per order. If two articles in the order are long distance articles, the customer is only charged the long distance delivery fee only once, even if the articles come from separate long distance warehouses.
How to optimise your network usage
To ensure that you are always close to your customer, we highly recommend you enable International warehousing. With international warehousing, you can optimise your operational setup by shipping customer orders from the local (i.e. non-German) warehouses in our network.
To find out more about the benefits, and what is required to enable international warehousing, review the dedicated article.
FAQs
What is the purpose of network zoning?
Network zoning is part of Zalando's strategy to continue to provide all customers with best-in-class fulfilment services by increasing the available assortment and reducing delivery lead times even further.
Are all partners going to be impacted by network zoning?
Yes, zoning is a network configuration that applies to all items fulfilled by Zalando, including both Wholesale and Partner Program assortment.
Does network zoning affect the availability of goods?
As a general rule, customers on Zalando can see your stock, regardless where it is located. However, there are some exceptions - for example, our warehouse in Stockholm is not enabled to fulfil customer orders from Spain, to avoid unnecessarily high lead times.
Why is the International warehousing recommended?
International warehousing allows you to get closer to your customers, and offer them an even better convenience experience. As a partner, it allows you to optimise your stock distribution, increase the number of available inbound locations, and reduce the time to online for returns. To learn more about International warehousing, please visit the dedicated article, linked at the bottom of this article.
Do customers pay twice if shipping isn't free?
Customers will only ever be charged one shipping fee per order, regardless of the number of long-distance articles or the number of warehouses that the long-distance articles are coming from.
The long-distance cost will be covered by the customer. Are there any extra costs for the partner?
No, there are no changes in the ZFS cost structure.