– Logistics provider Fiege to take over operations on April 1, 2019
– Fiege strives to convert into multi-user location
– Zalando also wants to continue providing logistics services in Brieselang as a Fiege customer
Berlin, 8. January 2019. Zalando, Europe’s leading online platform for fashion and lifestyle, and the family-run logistics service provider Fiege have developed a perspective for Brieselang as a logistics location. The joint “future contract” stipulates that Fiege is to become the operator of the location on 1 April 2019. In future, Fiege intends to provide logistics services for several clients in Brieselang, including Zalando. In April 2018, Zalando had promised a location guarantee until the middle of 2020. A conversion into a multi-user location by Fiege can now open up prospects beyond that.
“Fiege is a very experienced logistics provider with whom we are already working successfully at other locations. We are therefore delighted to be taking our partnership to a new level in Brieselang as well,” says David Schröder, SVP Convenience at Zalando. “We firmly believe in the potential of the location and with our concept we are opening up a future for Brieselang that would not have existed before,” says Christoph Mangelmans, Managing Director Fashion & Online Retail at Fiege. “We want to operate Brieselang as a multi-user centre with new business – and thus other customers in addition to Zalando. Together with the experienced employees in Brieselang, we want to do everything we can for this new opportunity for a long-term perspective and further develop the location.”
Zalando took over Brieselang as an existing property in 2011. With an area of 30,000 square metres, the logistics centre is the smallest location in Germany; the logistics locations developed in-house in Lahr, Mönchengladbach and Erfurt are more than four times as large at 130,000 square metres. As a fast-growing company with more than 25 million customers in 17 European markets, Zalando has special requirements for its logistics locations. One challenge in Brieselang is the capacity restrictions, which mean that only a comparatively small part of the product range is stored. “Zalando offers its customers an almost limitless selection of 300,000 fashion and lifestyle articles. In Brieselang, we therefore reach the limits of space alone; in addition, modern technologies, such as conveyor technology, which are standard in our other logistics centres, cannot be installed here. Over the years it has therefore become increasingly difficult for us to operate the location efficiently for our purposes, and an end to Zalando in Brieselang was foreseeable. That’s why it was important for us to find a solution that would offer our employees prospects for the future,” says David Schröder.
Employees remain on site – Zalando guarantees order volume until at least 2020
Around 1,000 employees currently work in Brieselang. The future contract stipulates that they will be employed at Fiege from 1 April. In order to support the transition to a multi-user location, Zalando guarantees an order volume until mid-2020. Brieselang and the local team played a central role in the first phase of Zalando’s corporate development as the first logistics location of their own, and it is important to us to support the further development of the location. It is therefore important for us to continue to handle part of our logistics in Brieselang and thus contribute our share to the success of the new strategy,” says David Schröder.
“The logistics centre in Brieselang is conveniently located and, with its proximity to the Berlin conurbation, is an interesting location for e-commerce logistics,” says Christoph Mangelmans. “We see a good potential for successfully operating the location, especially thanks to the experienced team of employees”. In the Berlin area, Fiege is already active at three locations in Rangsdorf, Großbeeren und Berlin.
The future contract for Brieselang is currently in the consultation phase and is to be signed shortly. Brieselang would then become the 186th logistics location in Fiege’s international network.
