The Zalando distribution centre to be located in Gardno near Gryfino will occupy 130 thousand square metres and serve the Scandinavian, German and Polish markets. This EUR 150 million investment project will initially offer 1 thousand jobs, but the target figure is up to 3 thousand.

 

After some 14 weeks of works a large portion of the construction is ready. Goodman Poland is the construction partner, and the works are carried out by Goldbeck GmbH from Germany, with Fiege acting as the operator of the distribution centre, among others in charge of recruitment. The centre is the second Zalando investment project in Poland. The first was carried out four years ago, when the firm officially entered the Polish market.

 

“Manual service will start in late summer 2017, while full automation is projected for autumn 2018, once the centre has been completely equipped,” says Katarzyna Heller, in charge of corporate communication, Zalando SE.

 

“The new centre will provide our employees with safe, stable and friendly jobs and career opportunities, thus attracting well-qualified, motivated and valuable staff. Working together, we will ensure smooth operation of the new Zalando project in Gryfino,” says Jens Fiege, Management Board member at Fiege Stiftung & Co. KG.

 

David Schröder, Senior Deputy President in charge of operations, Zalando, explains the reasons to locate the investment in West Pomerania: We have been observing rapid growth of e-commerce market in Poland. The Polish version of our platform has proven extremely successful though it was launched just four years ago. These factors have made us believe that this is the right place to open another logistic centre in our international distribution network that we have been developing in Europe. The competitiveness of the Polish e-commerce market was of key importance for picking up the location.

 

Zalando is Europe's leading online fashion store present in 15 countries:  Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Norway, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden, UK and Italy. The firm with headquarters in Berlin offers a broad range of clothes, footwear and accessories for women, men and children, free delivery and returns. Each month, Zalando websites generate about 160 million views. In Q3 2016 65 per cent of them came from mobile devices, which gives nearly 19.2 million active customers at quarter-end.

 

“We deliver several million packages a month. Last year Zalando gained 3 million new clients.  In response to the rapid growth, we are enhancing our logistic network in Europe,” added Schröder.

 

In February 2017, the e-commerce giant opened a return centre in Goleniów. So far, it has offered 200 jobs, and the recruitment is still going on. 

 

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