DS Smith and Zalando sign new contract for European e-commerce packaging 

DS Smith is extending its partnership with online retailer Zalando. The contract, which will commence in April 2025, includes e-commerce and fiber-based corrugated cardboard packaging solutions for European products.

It is an extension of a long-term partnership between the two companies, and the new agreement will allow continued work on bespoke packaging solutions for Zalando customer order and delivery hubs across Europe. 

The collaboration is anticipated to drive innovation in design and materials utilization. The DS Smith design teams will use the Circular Design Principles approach, which deploys “no more materials than necessary, create for supply chain efficiency and recyclability, and use recycled materials wherever possible.”

Marc Chiron, Sales, marketing and innovation director for DS Smith’s Packaging Division, says: “This new agreement will enable us to build on our research and development to date and continue to create some outstanding packaging solutions for Zalando’s e-commerce product portfolio across Europe.” 

“We are committed to ensuring that our packaging offering is best-in-class, and as a company, we are pioneering in our outlook and shared vision of Redefining Packaging for a Changing World..”

David Fischer, director of logistics sustainability and packaging at Zalando, says: “DS Smith has proven to be a highly valued, inspiring, and dependable partner for Zalando, and we have worked incredibly well together over the last years. Our focus is on innovation and on leading the way with customer-centric and more sustainable solutions.”

“We have a strong interest in developing high-quality packaging solutions for e-commerce, and as a leading player, our customers expect us to lead the way into a more sustainable future. We are very keen to set new standards for e-commerce and for Zalando in general.”

Zalando says it is building the “leading pan-European ecosystem” for fashion and lifestyle e-commerce around two growth vectors: Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B). 

In B2C, Zalando offers an inspiring and quality multi-brand shopping experience for fashion and lifestyle products to about fifty million active customers in twenty-five markets. In B2B, Zalando is using its logistic infrastructure, software, and service capabilities to help brands and retailers run and scale their entire e-commerce business, on or off Zalando.