Zalando, the leading online platform for fashion in Europe, will start the construction of its fourth self-operating logistics centre in Germany this October. The company will partner with Goodman, the developer, investor, and manager of the site, to build a property of 130,000 m². This will allow Zalando to serve customers in Southern Germany, Switzerland, and France even faster, and to meet the further increasing demand for ecommerce. Test operations for the new site are planned for as early as autumn 2016. Zalando plans to create about 1,000 jobs at the site located in the Upper Rhine region.
“Customers are in the core of our work and we invest in numerous measures to further drive their satisfaction. Zalando Logistics plays a central role as one of our main competencies in our future development,” said David Schröder, Senior Vice President Operations at Zalando SE.
Lahr was chosen over a range of other German locations in the search process. “Our decision is based on a reliable cooperation with the state of Baden-Württemberg, the municipal development company IGZ and the city of Lahr. Likewise, Lahr’s strong geographical location and infrastructure strongly influenced our decision,” Schröder added.
Dr. Wolfgang Müller, Mayor of Lahr, added: “I am excited to announce this next step by Zalando and the decision to come to Lahr. It highlights how attractive the airport area and the location Lahr is in overall for new investors.”
As with the first two self-operated logistics centres in Erfurt and Mönchengladbach, Zalando will collaborate with logistics property group Goodman on the development of the new site in Lahr. Jordan Corynen, Regional Director DACH at Goodman, said: “This development in Lahr will enable the successful continuation of our collaboration with Zalando. This time the new property will not be built on a greenfield site, but will see the conversion of a 185,000 m² former military site. We have now developed more than 1 million m² of logistics space for online trading in Germany.”
Details regarding the building and recruiting process will be presented in the coming months.
Source: Zalando
