Zalando has struck its first transatlantic retail alliance by extending its partnership program with retailers to a premium American retailer of sneakers and streetwear, Stadium Goods, which tends to offer the latest limited editions of hot products at its two physical stores in New York and on its website in the U.S., will expand in a first step to the German market through the German e-tailer, and then to the rest of Western Europe.
Zalando's partnership program offers brands and retailers the possibility to connect their own e-commerce operations with its own online fashion store. The items are integrated into Zalando's product catalog and are dispatched by the brand or the retailer itself.
The same will apply to Stadium Goods, which will be responsible for the delivery of the products ordered. After a pilot phase in Germany, when only German customers will be able to order the product range from Stadium Goods, a roll-out through Europe will follow.
Zalando has about 21 million active clients and sells more than 2,000 leading brands on its website. Some selected sneakers bought by Stadium Goods in the U.S. from Adidas, Nike and Supreme will now also be available on Zalando's online store.
To help secure the availability of the latest sneaker releases by these and other brands, Zalando last year bought Kickz, a German-based chain of 15 streetwear and sneaker stores that addresses a similar type of customer (see Shoe Intelligence Vol. 10 - N° 5-6 of March 21, 2016).
Stadium Goods, not to be confused with Stadium, the Scandinavian sports retail chain, is a multichannel retailer that became well-known through its collection of limited sneaker models that are on sale on its U.S. online store and in its flagship store in Soho, New York. An exclusive collector model, Nike's Air Jordan 4 Retro, is offered for sale by Stadium Goods at a price of $18,500 a pair.
Stadium Goods went online with its first online store in 2015. Last month, the American retailer signed a similar partnership with the Alibaba Group for the sale of its shoes in China.
Other brands or retailers that participate in Zalando's partnership program are Engelhorn, a German department store, and Sport 2000, a voluntary good of sports retailers that participates in its German program via an online platform, Schuhe.de, operated by the ANWR Group.
The partnership between Stadium Goods and Zalando was presented by Zalando at Bread & Butter, the consumer-oriented festival that took place on Sept. 1-3 in Berlin.
