Being transparent is very important to most brands. This is often reasoned by risk management in the supply chain but also by customers wanting to know where their purchase comes from. For Zalando transparency is of fundamental meaning in their company.

Last year we conducted a study for Zalando to better understand the supplier perspective in supply chain mapping and related challenges keeping suppliers from collaborating with customers.

The study combined a review of relevant literature, surveys of both suppliers and brands, and ran a pilot by mapping five of Zalando’s shirts using the sustainabill cloud platform.

The results showed that achieving transparency and sustainability show room for improvement in this dynamic sector. Most crucially it can be concluded that suppliers often still see barriers to share their data. It is often tough to get a survey response back and essential to identify the correct contact person.

A further influence on the lack of survey responses is cultural barriers. Many of Zalando’s suppliers are set in Southern Asia and our survey portrayed these barriers such as the language of communication.