Zalando, the German online fashion retailer, has launched a service that lets shoppers use artificial intelligence (AI) agents inside its app to buy from other online stores.
The platform, called Zalando Extended, was piloted with Westwing, the online home furnishings retailer.
From 2027, retailer intends to let customers complete those purchases without leaving its app.
AI agents are software tools that can search for products and carry out tasks such as making purchases on a user's behalf.
The launch came as Zalando, which sells clothes, shoes and accessories from brands including Nike, Hugo Boss and Coach, reported a weaker than expected profit margin for the third quarter.
Its shares fell 5% in early trading.
Margin miss
Gross margin, the share of sales left after the cost of goods, was 38.7%, below the roughly 39.9% the market expected.
That outweighed a 5.1% rise in revenue to €3.17 billion, ahead of the €3.15 billion forecast by analysts polled by LSEG.
Gross merchandise value, the total value of goods sold on the platform, rose 7.5% to €4.54 billion.
Adjusted earnings before interest and tax rose 10.6% to €106.5 million, lifting the adjusted margin to 3.4% from 3.2%.
Analysts at Jefferies and JPMorgan said the margin shortfall was partly due to investment spending.
JPMorgan warned the shares "could drift lower in the coming days given the lack of any incremental positives".
It also pointed to the long-term risk that AI agents pose to online retailers, as shoppers may increasingly buy through assistants rather than visiting individual websites.
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Platform push
Zalando is trying to get ahead of that shift.
Its AI-powered shopping assistant reached 6 million users last year, four times the previous year's level.
Anna Dimitrova, chief financial officer, said the company's move to a platform model was accelerating.
She said its partner business and advertising sales were growing at a double-digit rate, while business-to-business revenue rose almost 28%.
Sales through partners, where other retailers and brands sell directly on Zalando, rose to 33.6% of the business, up 2.9 percentage points.
The company is targeting 40% to 50% by 2028.
Dimitrova forecast a broadly flat gross margin for the full year.
