Zalando's B2B Engine Grows 28% as Platform Pivot Pays Off

Zalando grew revenue 5.1 percent to 3.17 billion euros in the three months ended Sept. 30, with B2B revenue up nearly 28 percent to 354.4 million euros — the clearest evidence yet that the German company's platform pivot is working as a business, not just a slide deck.

Gross merchandise volume rose 7.5 percent to 4.54 billion euros. Adjusted EBIT climbed 10.6 percent to 106.5 million euros, and the adjusted EBIT margin widened to 3.4 percent from 3.2 percent. For context, that is roughly 3.4 euros of operating profit for every 100 euros of revenue — thin, but moving in the right direction, helped by lower fulfillment costs and synergies from the About You integration.

What did the CFO say?

"One year in, the About You integration is progressing well and we kept our momentum in delivering synergies," chief financial officer Anna Dimitrova said in a statement. "At the same time, our shift to a platform business model is accelerating, with our partner business and retail media growing at a double-digit rate and B2B revenue up almost 28 percent."

The company put those synergies at "mid-teens millions of euros" for the quarter — a figure worth watching, given that Zalando paid a full retail multiple for About You on the promise of exactly these savings.

Where is the money actually made?

The B2B division is now the profit centre. Its adjusted EBIT more than doubled to 42.2 million euros from 19.6 million euros a year earlier, lifting the divisional margin to 11.9 percent from 7.1 percent. That is more than three times the group margin, on roughly a ninth of group revenue.

The unit wins were concrete:

• Scayle, the enterprise commerce software arm, added customers in the U.S. and U.K.
• Zeos Fulfilment secured clients including Champion, LC Waikiki and Lascana.

For brands and retailers weighing third-party logistics in Europe, Zeos adding three named apparel clients in one quarter is a signal worth pricing against DHL and in-house options.

What does the consumer business show?

The B2C side grew GMV across all three Zalando apps, led by the core app, with "strong momentum" in the off-price Lounge app. Partner products — goods sold by brands through Zalando's platform rather than bought by Zalando — reached 33.6 percent of B2C GMV, up 2.9 percentage points year on year. Retail media revenue grew nearly 18 percent.

Active customers hit a record 63.2 million, up 2.9 percent, and average spend per customer rose 2.9 percent to 308 euros a year. Two 2.9 percent figures: Zalando is growing by adding shoppers and by selling slightly more to each of them, in roughly equal measure.

The company also pushed further into AI-mediated distribution. More than 22 million unique users have visited the Zalando Assistant this year. It announced Zalando Extended, an AI agent that lets users find products from other online shops directly through the Zalando app, with German home and lifestyle retailer Westwing as pilot partner. Zalando said partner shops can join without complex technical integration or changes to their logistics. It will start with bulky home goods and add categories gradually — an intent, not yet a result.

Guidance holds

Zalando confirmed full-year 2026 guidance: reported GMV and revenue growth in the lower half of its 12-to-17 percent range, and adjusted EBIT of 680 million to 720 million euros. The lower half of that range signals management sees the quarter's momentum as sustainable rather than a spike.

The open question for the fourth quarter is whether B2B's doubled profit is the new baseline or the easy early win.