How to Connect Shopify with Zalando: Import Products & Sync Your Store

Every month, thousands of merchants search for a way to connect Shopify with Zalando — to sync their Zalando catalog, import listings, or run both stores in parallel. It sounds like it should be simple. It isn't.

Here's the honest answer, and the practical workaround that actually works.

Why There's No Official Zalando-Shopify Sync

Zalando is one of Europe's largest fashion marketplaces: €10.6 billion in revenue, 50 million active customers across 25 countries, and the dominant online fashion destination in Germany, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

But Zalando is a closed ecosystem for sellers, not a product source.

Unlike Amazon or AliExpress — where third-party sellers list products and have API access to their own inventory — Zalando operates differently:

Zalando Partner Program (ZPP): Brands and retailers sell on Zalando through a controlled partner program. This is for selling TO Zalando's customers, not pulling data from Zalando.
Zalando Fulfillment Solutions (ZFS): Zalando warehouses and ships your products for your ZPP store. Still not a sync tool.
No public catalog API: Zalando does not offer an API that lets you pull product listings, prices, or inventory into a third-party platform like Shopify.

The reason: Zalando curates what's sold on its platform. Brands pay to be there. Opening a product API would let anyone replicate their catalog, undercut partner pricing, and undermine the exclusivity that makes Zalando valuable to its brand partners.

So if you're looking for a "Zalando → Shopify sync" app — it doesn't exist, and it won't exist anytime soon.

What You Can Actually Do

There are two useful strategies for merchants who want to leverage Zalando with a Shopify store:

Import specific Zalando product URLs to Shopify using eCopy
Use Zalando as a product research tool, then source identical or equivalent products from AliExpress or SHEIN via eCopy

Both strategies are covered below.

Strategy 1: Import Zalando Products to Shopify with eCopy

eCopy is a Shopify app that imports products from any URL — including Zalando. You grab the product URL from Zalando's website, paste it into eCopy, and it pulls the title, description, images, variants, and pricing into your Shopify store in seconds.

This is the closest thing to a Zalando-Shopify connection that actually exists.

Step-by-Step: Import a Zalando Product with eCopy

Step 1: Install eCopy

Install eCopy from the Shopify App Store (free plan available). Open it from your Shopify admin.

Step 2: Find a product on Zalando

Browse Zalando normally. When you find a product you want to add to your store, copy the URL from your browser address bar.

Example URL format:

https://www.zalando.fr/nike-air-max-90-baskets-basses-black-ni111s0jx-q11.html

Step 3: Paste the URL into eCopy

In the eCopy dashboard, paste the Zalando product URL into the import field and click Import.

eCopy fetches:

Product title
Full description
All product images
Available variants (sizes, colors)
Current price

Step 4: Edit before publishing

Before publishing the imported product to Shopify, review and adjust:

Price: Set your own retail price (don't just copy Zalando's price)
Title: Rewrite for SEO if needed — eCopy's AI rewrite does this in one click
Description: Localize for your audience using eCopy's AI translate
Images: Remove any images with Zalando watermarks or brand logos you don't have rights to use

Step 5: Publish to Shopify

Click Publish. The product appears in your Shopify catalog, ready to go live.

Important: Sourcing and Legal Considerations

Importing a Zalando URL gives you the product data — titles, images, descriptions — but you still need your own supply chain. You cannot fulfill orders by purchasing from Zalando each time. That's retail arbitrage, which is slow, unprofitable, and violates Zalando's terms of service.

The URL import is useful for:

Building your store with accurate product data while you set up supplier relationships
Copying product format and structure from established brands
Research into how top-selling products are presented

For actual fulfillment, use the supplier sourcing approach in Strategy 2.

Strategy 2: Use Zalando as a Product Research Tool

This is how serious merchants use Zalando — not as a product source, but as a market intelligence platform. Zalando shows you exactly what European consumers are buying right now. Then you source the same products from AliExpress or SHEIN and import them to Shopify with eCopy.

Zalando is arguably the best product research tool for the EU fashion and lifestyle market.

Finding Winning Products on Zalando

Browse by bestsellers:

Zalando doesn't publish an explicit "bestseller" list, but these methods surface winning products:

Sorted by Popularity: On any category page, sort by "Beliebtheit" (DE) / "Popularité" (FR) / "Popularity" (EN). This ranks products by sales velocity.
"Top" badges: Products with a top-seller badge are consistently high volume.
Review count: Products with 500+ reviews are proven sellers.
"Schnell geliefert" (Quick delivery) filter: Shows products in Zalando's warehouse — meaning brands invested in stocking them, signaling high confidence in demand.

Best categories to research on Zalando:

| Category | Why It Works | |----------|-------------| | Sneakers | High demand, universal sizing, easy to source | | Loungewear | Post-2020 trend, long tail demand | | Bags & accessories | High margin, multiple sourcing options | | Sports bras / activewear | Year-round demand across EU | | Sunglasses | Seasonal spike, cheap to source, high markup | | Phone cases / tech accessories | Zalando expanded into tech — validates demand |

What to note when researching:

For each winning product, capture:

The style name and colorways that sell most
Price point (what Zalando charges)
Description language (how they frame the product)
Size range (EU sizing: 36-46 for shoes, XS-XXL for clothing)
Key features highlighted in reviews

Finding Equivalent Products on AliExpress or SHEIN

Once you've identified a winning product on Zalando, find an equivalent on AliExpress or SHEIN:

Take a screenshot of the Zalando product
Use AliExpress image search (camera icon in search bar)
Or search by description keywords: "women ribbed lounge set beige" → filter by 4.5+ stars and 1,000+ orders
Check supplier ratings (95%+), shipping times to EU, and return policy

SHEIN is particularly useful for trending fashion items: the categories mirror what performs on Zalando, and products are often identical or very close.

Importing with eCopy

Once you've found your AliExpress or SHEIN supplier:

Open the product page on AliExpress or SHEIN
Copy the URL
Paste into eCopy → Import
eCopy pulls all product data in seconds
Use eCopy AI Rewrite to create unique product copy (avoids duplicate content)
Use eCopy AI Translate to create German or French descriptions

Your Shopify product is ready in under 5 minutes.

Setting Up Your Store for EU / Zalando-Comparable Positioning

Zalando's customers are EU consumers. If you want to compete for the same traffic and sell to the same audience, your Shopify store needs to match their expectations.

EUR Pricing

Display prices in EUR only (or offer EUR as primary currency)
Use comma as decimal separator for German/French markets: 29,99 € not €29.99
VAT-inclusive pricing is legally required for EU consumer stores
Add "inkl. MwSt." (DE) or "TVA comprise" (FR) near prices

Margin example:

AliExpress cost: €7
Shipping to EU: €3
Your Shopify price: €34,99 (free shipping threshold: €35+)
Gross margin: €24,99 per order

EU Sizing

Zalando's audience expects EU sizing. Make sure your product variants are set correctly:

| Category | Format | |----------|--------| | Shoes | EU 36 / 37 / 38... 46 | | Clothing | XS / S / M / L / XL (or EU 34 / 36 / 38...) | | Bras | EU sizing (70A, 75B, 80C) | | Children | Age range or height in cm |

When importing from AliExpress, size charts are often in Asian sizing. Use eCopy's description editor to replace sizing tables with EU-equivalent sizing.

German and French Descriptions

Zalando operates in German and French as primary languages. If you're targeting those markets:

eCopy AI Translate workflow:

Import product from AliExpress (English description)
Click AI Translate in eCopy
Select target language: Deutsch or Français
eCopy rewrites the description naturally — not machine-translated filler

German description tips:

Be precise about materials (Germans care about fabric composition)
List care instructions (Pflegehinweise)
Avoid superlatives without evidence ("best quality" → "aus 100% Baumwolle")

French description tips:

Accent marks matter (é, è, ê, à, ç)
French consumers respond to lifestyle language and aesthetics
Brand story matters more in France than in Germany

Shopify Configuration for the Zalando Audience

If you're positioning against Zalando for EU fashion, set up:

Shopify Markets:

Enable Shopify Markets for Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands
Assign EUR currency
Set market-specific language (German for DE, French for FR)

Payment methods EU shoppers expect:

PayPal (dominant across all EU markets)
Klarna (especially Germany — Zalando uses Klarna as default payment)
Credit card (Visa, Mastercard)
iDEAL for Netherlands
Bancontact for Belgium

Shipping:

Set EU-wide shipping zones
Offer tracked shipping with realistic 10-15 day estimates from China
Consider AliExpress suppliers with EU warehouses (France, Germany, Poland) for 3-5 day delivery
Free shipping over €35-40 threshold (matches Zalando's free shipping threshold)

Returns: EU law (EU Consumer Rights Directive) grants customers 14 days to return any online purchase for any reason. Display your return policy clearly. Zalando offers 100-day free returns — you can't match that, but a 30-day free return policy builds trust.

What eCopy Does That a "Zalando Connector" Cannot

Even if a Zalando API existed, a direct sync would come with problems:

Zalando prices change constantly — your margin would be unpredictable
You'd be selling Zalando's branded content, which is their intellectual property
Inventory you don't control means stockouts you can't anticipate
You'd be competing directly with Zalando on your own site

The eCopy approach gives you control:

Import once, own the listing: Your product copy, your images, your pricing
AI rewrite: Unique descriptions that won't trigger duplicate content issues
AI translate: German and French content without a translator
Source from anywhere: AliExpress, SHEIN, or any URL — not locked to one supplier
Your margin: You set the price, not Zalando's pricing team

Common Questions

Can I sell ON Zalando through Shopify? Not directly. Zalando Partner Program is a separate channel. Some apps (like Channable) help sync Shopify inventory to Zalando ZPP, but you need to be approved as a Zalando partner first — that's a separate application process with brand and product requirements.

Is importing Zalando URLs legal? Importing publicly available product data for reference is common practice. However, you cannot republish Zalando's brand assets (logos, branded images) or copy their proprietary descriptions word-for-word on your Shopify store. Always rewrite descriptions (eCopy's AI rewrite handles this) and use only your own product photography or supplier images.

What about Zalando's own Shopify app? As of 2026, Zalando does not offer an official Shopify app for catalog sync. Any third-party app claiming a "Zalando sync" is either outdated or uses unofficial scraping that can break at any time.

Conclusion

There is no official way to connect Shopify with Zalando. Zalando is a closed marketplace that doesn't expose its product catalog via API.

What works instead:

Use eCopy to import specific product URLs from Zalando into Shopify for data reference and store building
Use Zalando as a free product research tool — browse bestsellers by category, identify winning products, then source equivalents from AliExpress or SHEIN
Import those supplier products with eCopy — titles, images, variants pulled in seconds, then rewritten in German or French using AI

The merchants winning in EU fashion dropshipping aren't waiting for a Zalando API. They're using Zalando's marketplace to understand what sells, then building their own catalog around those winners.

Start importing products to Shopify for free

eCopy imports from AliExpress, SHEIN, Amazon, Etsy, eBay, Temu, WooCommerce, Wix, and any product URL — with AI rewriting and translation built in. Free to install.

Install eCopy Free on Shopify →