Zalando announces new investment in Poland
Zalando, a German e-shopping giant, announced its plans to build a distribution centre in Poland. The facility is to be located in Gryfino and service Poland as well as Scandinavian countries and to some extend Germany.
The investment is expected to close at approximately 150 million EUR, although initially Polish media mentioned the amount of 200 million EUR.
The facility will be located in a special economic zone. It will surely be a big boost to the local economy. The centre is expected to employ over 1000 people. The West Pomeranian voivodship, where Gryfino is located, is a region with one of the highest unemployment figures in the country.
The distribution centre is to cover the total area of 21.5 hectares, while its main building is to have the total size of 130 000 square metres. The facility is planned to be opened in late summer 2017.
The company announced it will cooperate on the investment with Australian Goodman (who is to build the facility) and German Fiege (who will operate it).
This is not the first Polish investment of the German e-store. There is already a fulfilment centre functioning in Goleniów near Szczecin. However, that investment was of totally different scale. It employs around 150 people, ten times less than the distribution centre that is to be opened in Gryfino.
Puls Biznesu, Polish business magazine, called the endeavour “one of the most spectacular foreign investments in Poland”. The investor was drawn to Poland by favourable location and continually expanding domestic e-commerce market. The centre will be built near the A6 motorway.
Zalando is an online store selling womens-, mens- and childrenswear. It is present in 15 European countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Poland and the United Kingdom.
The store attracts its clients with free delivery, 100-day free return policy and a wide choice of world-known brands, such as Adidas, Esprit, Nike, Ray Ban, Sisley, or Tommy Hilfiger.
The company is experiencing a period of extensive growth. Last year alone, it grew its client base by 3000 new buyers. The company’s country-specific sites appear on computer and mobile screens approximately 160 million times each month. The company’s EBIT tripled in the second quarter and its share prices keep rising.
Zalando is not the first big e-commerce company to open a distribution centre in Poland. From 2014, American giant Amazon operates a logistics centre in Sady near Poznań.
