Zalora to launch Marketplace this year

• Offers independent fashion designers and sellers access to millions of customers
• ‘Zalora Fashion Scout force’ searching for and recruiting potential brands and designers

ONLINE fashion portal Zalora said it will be launching its own ‘Marketplace’ in the first half of this year, but did not give a more specific date.
 
Claiming over 15 million visits per month to its portals, Zalora said Marketplace would give independent fashion designers and sellers the opportunity to instantly expand their business to its “massive customer base” and “greatly increase the product assortment available to customers.”

Zalora Marketplace would allow vendors from all over South-East Asia and Hong Kong to create their own branded storefront within the Zalora site, which will be run and maintained by the seller with support from a dedicated Zalora account manager, the company said in a statement.
 
Sellers would also benefit from a huge increase in brand exposure through free online marketing and advertising that will be part of Zalora’s overall marketing campaigns, the company said.

Customers across the region will also benefit from hundreds to potentially thousands of new products and brands available online, without having to visit different shopping portals, the Rocket Internet subsidiary added.
 
Interestingly, last October, another Rocket Internet company Lazada launched a similar fashion marketplace in the region.

“The upcoming launch of Zalora Marketplace is an exciting development for the fashion industry in South-East Asia as a whole,” said Zalora managing director Magnus Grimeland.
 
“We are launching a platform where up-and-coming brands, boutiques or designers can sell their products alongside our internationally renowned brands, to an already highly established and loyal customer base.
 
“We have over 15 million visits to our Zalora sites per month; for an independent fashion seller to have instant access to this kind of audience is a previously unheard of opportunity,” he claimed.

A dedicated and localised ‘Zalora Fashion Scout force’ is currently searching for and recruiting potential brands and designers to come on board for the launch, the company said.

“We have found some incredible and exciting designers and sellers so far,” said Grimeland.
 
“We are really looking forward to working with them, nurturing them at this stage of the journey and seeing how far their business can expand through Marketplace,” he added.
 
Citing a Goldman Sachs report in March, 2013, Zalora said that around 11%-15% of total global retail sales will be conducted through online channels by 2020, with Asia Pacific accounting for a very large portion of that.
 
Zalora Marketplace is currently open to applications from potential sellers; details can be found here.

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