The online retailer Zalando buys a controlling stake in the online magazine Highsnobiety. It will serve as a “strategic and creative consultant” to the retail giant.
E-commerce company Highsnobiety started out as a footwear-only retailer. Now, it is trying to grow more prominent in the streetwear market. They say the acquisition aims to “accelerate Zalando’s ambition to be a top destination for streetwear, new luxury, and fashion inspiration, especially for the younger, fashion-forward consumers.”
The goal is that they “leverage each other’s complementary strengths by bringing together Highsnobiety’s cultural relevance and insight, fashion authority, and storytelling expertise with Zalando’s fashion network, e-commerce know-how, and operational capabilities”.
Editorial Evolution
David Fischer, founder, and CEO of Highsnobiety retains a minority share in the company. He will continue to lead it with Jürgen Hopfgartner. Highsnobiety is able to “retain editorial independence, with creative agency work remaining fully autonomous and management structure unchanged.” We are keen to see how this evolves.
Zalando’s founder and co-CEO, David Schneider, says, “Both of our companies share a passion for building strong brand partnerships and enabling brands to inspire audiences with their products and stories. Partnering with Highsnobriety will allow us to execute much faster on our ambition to offer the most relevant and engaging — as well as convenient — shopping experience to our customers. I’m excited to see our joint vision materialize and to shape the future of fashion content in commerce together.”
The German Highsnobriety is most popular in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. It averages 1.48 million unique visitors a month.
While we would have never imagined a retailer buying an influential fashion magazine a few years ago. It is far less surprising today. Highsnobiety’s “unique capabilities will play into Zalando’s ambitions to weave inspirational experiences into the customer journey and create an exciting and engaging online environment for both consumers and brands. In turn, joining the group allows Highsnobiety to leverage Zalando’s expertise and resources to fuel its own e-commerce capabilities,” says the German retailer.
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