Buying Process
Tools - Selection Sheet + Retail Center
Step 1 - Pre-filling Selection Sheet (Supplier)
Supplier pre-fills the Selection Sheet with Article Data e.g.
Article Name, Article Color, Purchase Price; RRP, Size Structure…)
Step 2 - Live / Remote Meetings (Buyer)
Live Appointment | Remotely |
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Step 3 - Placing Order on the Retail Center (Buyer)
Buyer places order through an upload on the Retail Center, our central application hub.
Step 4 - Pre-Confirming Order (Supplier / Buyer)
Buyer sends Supplier Sheet Supplier via email to the Supplier in an Excel file.
Supplier can check all information and pre-confirm the order
Buyer uploads order request on the Retail Center, which is now visible to the supplier
Step 5 - Order Upload (Supplier / Ops)
Supplier fills and uploads the Purchase Order Confirmation (Excel file) on the Retail Center
OPs clarifies any questions / Purchase Order's status is "Zalando is working on this order"
Step 6 - Order Final Confirmation (Buyer / Supplier / Ops)
In case of changes, the OPs Team and the Buyer need to be informed and submit their approval
OPs adjust POs in system if supplier cannot do it and request confirmation from Buyer
*Ops = Operations Specialist / main point of contact for order processing
Conditions
Before initiating a Partnership, we need to formalise a Conditions Agreement based on the possible following conditions:
Base Calculation - Gross retail price / Net purchasing price before discount (gross margin) |
Base Discount - Base discount granted according to business size and generated volumes |
No Claim Discount - Discount when defective products cannot be sold and Zalando should cover additional costs for returns' deliveries and costs' handling, as well as a decreased customer satisfaction. |
Scale Discount - Stands for a growth discount when a certain budget amount has been spent |
Incoterm - Pre-written terms of trade that define the responsibilities of sellers and buyers for the national & international sale of goods |
Markdown Support - Supplier contributes to the resulting markdowns to support the seasonal performance |
Right to Return - The right to return unsold items can be based on a specific Return Rate or Sell Through Rate (based on total order volume) |
Other Risk-Sharing Discounts - for instance, the Right to Exchange: Zalando is allowed to exchange articles for alternative items from the supplier's product range |
Cash Discount - It's a deduction on invoice amounts if payments are completed within a certain time period (also known as Early Payment Discount) |
Net Payment Days - The time period during which payments need to be transferred to supplier in full |
Order Types
Preorder | New styles for an upcoming season |
Reorder - Regular | Existing articles that will be ordered during reorder period. The articles need to be submitted before for a preorder. |
Reorder - Block Order | Block orders include products that suppliers will block/reserve in their warehouses for Zalando.
Block orders are placed along with our pre-orders to improve the supplier’s ability to plan stock availability.
Blocks can either be called off during in season management or expire after a defined deadline.
Call-off orders can be obligatory or optional. |
Direct Order | New articles that will be ordered during the reorder period, e.g. Flash or Express Collections |
Clearance Order | Special Order with additional discount |
Season Logic
| Preorder Intakes | Reorder Intakes |
Spring / Summer | 01.11 - 30.04 | 01.01 - 15.05 |
Autumn / Winter | 01.05 - 31.10 | 01.07 - 15.11 |
Reorder Frequency
NOS (Never Out of Stock) - this is an all-season basic assortment, including recurring articles always available on Zalando Store.
VMI (Vendor Managed Inventory) - the VMI Dashboard reports VMI performance based on several levels: supplier, brand, CG3 and SKU.
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