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Retailer Zalando launches AI shopping agent as margins squeezed

By · Published by Everything Blog

In short

The online fashion group rolled out an autonomous agent designed to handle price comparisons and purchases as automated commerce gains traction. Concurrently, the firm launched an extended platform that allows consumers to purchase items from external merchants directly inside its mobile application. Despite posting stronger top-line quarterly sales of €3.17 billion, aggressive capital outlays caused gross profit margins to fall to 38.7 percent, disappointing investors.

Key points

  • Zalando Extended will allow consumers to purchase goods from other merchants, beginning w…: Zalando Extended will allow consumers to purchase goods from other merchants, beginning with partner Westwing.
  • Platform transition efforts showed momentum as business-to-business revenue recorded a ga…: Platform transition efforts showed momentum as business-to-business revenue recorded a gain of nearly 28 percent.
  • JPMorgan analysts warned that structural industry risks from automated retail could conti…: JPMorgan analysts warned that structural industry risks from automated retail could continue to weigh on the stock.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

PARIS, Nov 3 : Top European online fashion retailer Zalando on Tuesday launched its first AI shopping agent amid concerns that artificial intelligence could disrupt online retail, after reporting third-quarter gross margin below market expectations.

Shares in the German company fell 5 per cent in early trading.

Zalando reported a gross profit margin of 38.7 per cent in the quarter, missing expectations partly due to investments, analysts at Jefferies and JPMorgan said in notes to clients.

The industry is facing disruption from so-called agentic commerce, in which autonomous AI agents execute the full purchase cycle for goods, from price comparison across multiple retailers to payment, on behalf of human shoppers.

"The stock could drift lower in the coming days given the lack of any incremental positives, in our view, and its current level, along with ongoing structural risk from agentic commerce development," JPMorgan said.

As shoppers increasingly use AI to compare prices, check product availability and get recommendations, retailers are racing to adopt AI tools to remain competitive and expand the range of products available on their platforms.

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