Both sides now: Moving from B2C to B2B within Zalando
Senior Product Designer at Zalando Direct, Kim Does, tells us what it’s like to switch teams and perspectives at Zalando.
Where did your Zalando journey start?
I joined in 2015 to work on something called Project Z, which became Style Advice, Zalando’s personalized shopping experience. It was a great introduction, like being in a startup, but within a big stable organization. We had the freedom and agility to go quickly, be creative, and experiment, but with the security of a salary and a future (which you don’t always have with a startup!).
What happened next?
I was in that team for about four and a half years, and I then went on maternity leave. Just as I was ready to return to the office, Covid-19 struck, which meant working remotely, but with the addition of twin toddlers in a Berlin apartment!
On returning, I realized that I needed a new challenge. I wanted to dive into something new and complex to grow my knowledge. I knew there were lots of opportunities inside Zalando, and there was the option to switch internally. When I spoke with my lead they were very supportive in helping me take this next step. They suggested a team and area that was a great fit for my strengths, but also my personal development goals. I interviewed, and here I am.
So, where did you go?
I’m now working as a Senior Product Designer in Zalando Direct, on the Business to Business (B2B) side. Most people (myself included before I joined), know Zalando from the Business to Consumer (B2C) side, and the Fashion Store. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. So much goes on ‘behind the scenes’, involving so many different functions and teams. The challenge is to make all that complexity invisible to users, so they can enjoy a seamless experience. That’s one of our objectives at Zalando Direct. We manage the Partner Program, which brings partners on to our marketplace to offer products directly to our customers. We currently have more than 800 partners and more than 4.000 brands. It’s very diverse. There are world-famous brands, but also the smaller boutiques, whose brands we can help to grow and expose to an Europe-wide fashion-buying public.
How is B2B different?
It involves a different perspective, and a different set of stakeholders. Essentially it’s our job to create a great product for our customers. In this case our customers are our partners, and our product is zDirect. This is a self-service tool we’ve designed to help partners sell and manage their products on Zalando. And in terms of design, it’s less about developing ways to deliver friction-free, 3-clicks checkout flows. But rather, helping to make the working days of busy partners stress-free and efficient.
What does this typically involve?
My day-to-day work involves improving our UI solution for our partners. At the moment I’m working on a project that makes it easier for smaller partners, without tech capacity, to join our marketplace. Initially the Partner Program focussed on enabling big partners to work with us: providing them with APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) and technical integrations. We’re now shifting our focus to include smaller to medium sized partners. For some of them an API doesn’t make things easier (as it does for big partners); but is actually a hurdle. They might need to hire or contract engineers to set this up for them. As we want to offer the same opportunities to all our partners, we’re evolving our product to remove this barrier to entry.
Does your earlier B2C experience help in this challenge?
Good question. I think it does. Seeing both sides helps you to empathize, you can better understand a problem and work towards resolving it.
For example, we always provide product details about an article, like color, material, sleeve length, shirt length, etc. Now, with hundreds of thousands of products, these details might not always be 100 percent accurate all the time (although this is of course always the aim!). It’s frustrating for a consumer if they’re expecting a full-sleeve garment, and it arrives three-quarters. I can now see how partners have to provide a lot of information in a lot of different places, and how easy it is to make a mistake or overlook something. We’re working on ways to prevent this.
What do you value most about your role?
It’s interesting to work closely with our smaller partners, and get their feedback on proposed product designs. We run a lot of research sessions with them, and they’re generally very enthusiastic to participate and be honest about what works and doesn’t work for them. When you conduct research in a B2B context, the improvements you can make to their experience can make a massive difference to their business efficiency and profitability (especially for the smaller players). So research and product development feels more like a partnership for improvement. That’s really satisfying.
How are you finding your new role?
It’s great. I’m not only engaged with different types of problems and different stakeholders, I’m part of a larger team that is still growing and maturing. And I can get involved in the bigger-picture problem-solving beyond project level. This was exactly what I was looking for when I switched: a new challenge and the opportunity to keep growing.
So, what’s next for you?
I like working at Zalando, and see many possibilities for progressing to the next level. There are two main paths for this within Product Design — moving towards a management role, or continuing to be an individual contributor as a Principal Product Designer. I’ve got my sights set on the Principal path.
It would allow me to keep growing, but without having to put down my “design tools”, as I also love creating and diving deep. In the Principal role I would continue to do this, while also working on increasing my impact beyond a single product team. Practicing more big-picture thinking on strategic topics, which I find really exciting and motivating. I work with a few Principal Designers in my team, it’s inspiring to learn from them, and see how I might fill that role in the future.
If you’d like to learn more about Product Design in B2B at Zalando, sign up for our forthcoming virtual event, where Kim is on the Q&A panel.
