Zalando to sell subsidiary Kickz due to product overlap and core strategy

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Dec 16, 2019

German e-tail giant Zalando said Monday that it’s to sell its baseball-to-streetwear subsidiary Kickz as it continues to focus on its strategy of making the core Zalando product "the Starting Point for Fashion”.

Kickz (or Kickz Never Not Ballin' GmbH) is being sold to Play Hard GmbH with the divestment set to be complete in Q1 next year.

Play Hard is a subsidiary of Crealize GmbH, a “company creator” that “develops new business models and companies”.

Zalando has only owned Kickz since 2017 as it worked to “gain access to basketball and streetwear products and attract customers that were not yet part of the platform”. But it said that over the last two years, the company has expanded its assortment “to an extent that largely overlaps with the Kickz offering”.

With the introduction of the ‘Starting Point for Fashion’ strategy back in February this year, under which Zalando aims to “deepen its relationship with its customers by tailoring its offer and investing in areas that add the most value”, the company reviewed Kickz in recent months. And it said it “has come to the conclusion that it does not contribute to the refined strategy”.

So what does this mean for the Kickz operation as it stands? Not a lot at present with Zalando saying that its website and 11 physical stores will continue without changes for now. And employee contracts will be unaffected too.