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5 questions with Claes Larsson

05 September 2019
Claes Larsson is a Swedish IT and Operations professional with a wide experience in Business Process Improvements in various industries. He worked for international companies such as Volvo, Stena Line, Carrefour, Adidas and Thule Group in different roles before taking on the role of “Operations Lead Retail Core” at Zalando, where he manages several teams dedicated to enhancing the whole purchase-to-pay processes and tools for the company’s wholesale business.

What effects does digital transformation have on your suppliers?

It has a huge impact. In a way, fashion is a traditional business, where very little has happened since the Industrial Revolution when it comes to the interaction between suppliers and retailers. Now, with large eTailers such as Zalando, managing thousands of brands from thousands of suppliers, automation and digitalization have become a must. We see a significant shift taking place here, and it is companies like Zalando that take a leading role. We simply cannot continue to handle the purchase process as an offline manual process any longer, and the digitalization of our suppliers is thereby happening whether they like it or not. Of course, we need to be flexible and provide various means of integration, but one thing is clear: Without it, the booming online fashion industry will not be able to scale and be profitable.

How important do you think data quality is for being successful in the fashion industry?

Considering what I said about digitalization, data quality is undoubtedly a central issue. The more you do by hand, the more errors you will make in the data.  Data quality is and has always been a problem in the fashion industry, and we also get more and more regulations where we need to be able to provide information about chemicals, fabric, country of origin, etc. Another aspect is, of course, the data needed for customers to make an educated decision about what to buy.  We are facing major problems here today, but luckily there are some projects that are trying to standardize the data exchange for fashion products.

Can good data quality be a competitive advantage from your point of view?

Definitely. High-quality data enables customers to make more informed decisions, which in turn improves the shopping experience. At the same time, this will hopefully reduce the risk of people overbuying and lead to lower return rates.

In your opinion, what is the first step in improving the quality of data in a company?

You need to start from the source. The earlier we can get high-quality data, and the more automation we can introduce in the production of content, the better it is. Hence, automation and getting full data directly from the suppliers are key. However, so is standardization. This is a big pain point in the fashion industry today because we basically have no standards.

What is the biggest challenge in the fashion industry today and how does Zalando deal with this challenge?

Returns are, of course, a huge challenge, and I firmly believe that high-quality data can, at least partly, solve this issue.  That, and automating the Pre-Season Purchase Process. Again, we at Zalando are taking a lead in this area.

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