Keep your promises

In less than five years, Zalando has grown from being a small online shoe shop operated from a shared flat in Berlin to become Europe’s leading online fashion retailer, offering more than 150,000 products from over 1,500 different brands. Head of the Nordic Markets, Michael Lindskog, shares a few insights on how Zalando entered the Nordic region without stumbling over national borders like so many businesses before them.

A mature e-commerce market
When entering a new market or region, Zalando’s biggest challenge is discerning the most effective approach to take for each individual country. Business strategies are adapted in consideration of local needs, as well as to support the development of country-specific expertise.
Last year, Zalando headhunted apparel aficionado and former McKinsey consultant, Michael Lindskog, and relocated him from his hometown of Stockholm, to Berlin. It was the first step in setting up a dedicated international team for the Nordic region.
“What attracted us to the Nordic markets was a combination of various factors and characteristics”, Michael Lindskog explains. “The internet penetration there is extremely high and consumers are very confident with both the internet and e-commerce in general. On top of this,