Imagine a D2C marketplace, but connected to physical stores, that retailers were actually happy about signing up for. This is not a fantasy; Zalando has done it with over 1,500 stores in Germany. They call it Connected Retail.

Zalando’s VP of Direct to Consumer, Dr. Carsten Keller, recently spoke at WeTech Berline 2020 conference talking about the topic, and it might highlight the evolution of the model in other markets as well.

The addressable market for Zalando's marketplace is over 300,000 stores of stock that could be connected to its online demand engine. The question is how to do that efficiently in a way that helps both the consumer and the retailer? It's tricky.

First, Zalando connected it to a delivery service from the retailer. In the future, they plan to build in "click and collect" connected to a marketplace model.

I thought this was super-interesting and unique, and think others in the United States should look at this model to provide value for fashion brands.