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One of Europe’s largest online fashion retailers, Zalando SE, is expanding their technology operations internationally by opening a new technology hub in Helsinki. On August 27th they welcomed their new local team to the company.
By Dorte Primdahl Møberg
Focusing on the development of innovative customer-facing products, such as fashion apps, Zalando aims to boost its fashion platform and increase offers to customers and brands. The new office in Helsinki will play a key role in this strategy.
“The mobile trend continues to disrupt fashion e-commerce and is quickly moving away from simply shopping online. Mobile visits to our shop have already exceeded desktop visits, amounting to 57% in the second quarter of 2015. We are therefore heavily investing in our mobile capabilities”, says Philipp Erler, SVP Technology, Zalando.
More jobs in the technology sector
Zalando intends to create up to 200 jobs in Helsinki over the few next years. The company is actively recruiting full-stack and mobile developers, user experience specialists, data scientists, and product owners from across the industry, as well as employees to work on consumer-facing mobile apps. By the end of the September, the on-site team will consist of more than ten people.
“Thanks to its strategic location, strong universities, and a firmly established mobile sector, Helsinki provides the best possible environment for our new international tech hub. Furthermore, we want to become an established part of the Finnish tech community and partner up with local start-ups in the future”, says Phillip Erler.
The new office in Helsinki constitutes Zalando’s second technology hub outside Germany, following the opening of the Fashion Insights Centre in Dublin earlier this year. In Ireland, operations focus on deep data science and engineering research, involving R&D about how to build a real-time insights platform around fashion. The e-retailer’s on-site team will increase to more than 20 employees over the coming weeks. In the first year of their operations in Dublin, they aim to create around 50 jobs, with the potential for several hundred long-term jobs in the future.
