Current Zalando COO David Schröder is to replace co-founder David Schneider as co-CEO of the company. This highlights a strategic change within the company, that now wants to focus on the B2B market.
Schröder to lead
Schneider will remain on Zalando’s Management Board, but he will now focus entirely on building partner relationships, as “strategic partnerships play a crucial role in executing the ecosystem strategy”.
Therefore, he will step down as co-CEO, passing the torch onto Schröder. Robert Gentz, also co-founder and co-CEO, will continue to focus on the B2C business. Schröder has been part of the Zalando board since 2010: previously he was SVP Convenience (until 2019), then Chief Financial Officer for three years.
Chief People Officer Astrid Arndt will be tasked with attracting more business profiles. In the medium term, Zalando sees its B2B branch, through which the e-commerce player opens up its logistics infrastructure, software and service capabilities to other retailers, growing into a billion-dollar business. All changes take effect on 1 September.
