Zalando took over Brieselang in 2011 as an existing property. With an area of 30,000 square meters, the logistics center is the smallest location in Germany; the self-developed logistics locations in Lahr, Mönchengladbach and Erfurt are more than four times as large at 130,000 square meters. As a fast-growing company with more than 25 million customers in 17 European markets, Zalando has special requirements for its logistics locations. One challenge in Brieselang is the capacity restrictions, which mean that only a comparatively small part of the product range can be stored. "Zalando offers its customers an almost limitless selection of 300,000 fashion and lifestyle items. In Brieselang, we are therefore reaching our limits in terms of space alone. In addition, modern automation technologies, which are standard in our other logistics centers, can only be installed here to a limited extent. Over the years, it has therefore become increasingly difficult for us to operate the site economically efficiently for our purposes and the end of Zalando in Brieselang was foreseeable. It was therefore important for us to find a solution that would offer our employees prospects for the future," says David Schröder.

Around 1,000 employees currently work in Brieselang. The future contract stipulates that they will be employed by Fiege from April 1st. In order to support the transition to a multi-user location, Zalando guarantees an order volume until at least mid-2020. Zalando also intends to support the development with orders until mid-2024. "Brieselang and the dedicated team on site have played a central role in Zalando's corporate development as its first own logistics location, and it is important to us to support the further development of the site. It is therefore important to us to continue to handle part of our logistics in Brieselang and thus do our part to ensure that the new strategy works," says David Schröder.

"The logistics center in Brieselang is conveniently located and its proximity to the Berlin metropolitan area makes it an interesting location for e-commerce logistics," says Christoph Mangelmans. "Thanks to the experienced team of employees in particular, we see good potential to operate the location successfully." In the Berlin area, Fiege already operates at three locations in Rangsdorf, Großbeeren and Berlin.

The future contract for Brieselang is currently in the consultation phase and should be signed soon. Brieselang would then become the 186th logistics location in Fiege's international network.