Online retailer Zalando has announced special same- and next-day delivery services for the festive season in more than 30 German cities and is stepping up sustainability measures by fitting solar panels on all its warehouses.
For a small fee, Zalando customers now have the option to get their package delivered on the same or next day if they need to occasionally receive an order faster. Previously, this premium service was only available to Zalando Plus members.
The rapid delivery service is now live in more than 30 German cities on a pay-per-use basis for home delivery. If available, it will be displayed during the check-out process in the Zalando Fashion Store.
Indeed, according to the Capgemini festive shopping trends 2019 survey, 33% of customers expect delivery or collection of their online orders within three working days during the Christmas season. Another 16% expect their parcels within 24 hours. Overall, customers want to know whether a parcel will arrive in time during the festive season.
Moreover, the company also sees that customer expectations have increased with 59% of the customers wanting their parcel delivered on the next day. Another 40% favour delivery in the evening. Zalando believes that premium services like same- and next-day delivery are going to be the “new normal” in e-commerce.
The company’s delivery partners are of special importance and enable a reliable and flexible local delivery network, which is required to offer premium delivery, the online retailer underlined.
Christian Scheffler, Director Zalando Premium Logistics, explained: “At Zalando, we believe that trusted partnerships with our customers, brands and partners are the key to success. The drivers are a very important touchpoint between Zalando and our customers. Their performance, and timely and customer friendly service, is an extension of our frictionless online services.”
Meanwhile, the company has also enforced its commitment to renewable energy. To drive sustainability improvements, Zalando focuses on compensating all CO2 emissions from its own operations, deliveries and returns that are not yet eliminated by operational improvements such as more sustainable packaging or delivery options, via offsetting.
An important pillar of reducing its impact on the climate as much as possible is the switch to renewable energy sources. In 2018, for example, 40.000 tons of CO2 emissions have been avoided compared to 2017 by switching to green electricity in Zalando office buildings. Today, 90% of the energy across all Zalando locations come from renewable sources or is produced in a CO2 neutral way.
Looking ahead, to drive sustainability improvements at an operational level, “every fulfilment centre will be equipped with solar panels or other green building technologies by 2023”, Raimund Paetzmann, Vice President Corporate Real Estate announced.
Additionally, all new Zalando buildings will require a green building certification, which verifies that they are built in a way that conserves resources and generates fewer greenhouse emissions.
In July 2019, the fulfilment centre in Lahr (Germany) installed solar panels, producing almost 800,000 kWh of power per year. Another location in Verona also generates parts of its electricity with its own photovoltaic systems. The other centres in Moenchengladbach and Erfurt will be retrofitted.
The newest fulfilment centre in Bleiswijk, near Rotterdam (Netherlands), will be equipped with solar panels, aiming to provide enough energy to run all operations on the 140,000 sqm site.
