• The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) has ordered Zalando to keep their customers duly informed of their rights when using the shopping platform.
• Before clicking “proceed to checkout” (przejdź do kasy), consumers should know who they are buying goods from and under what terms.
• Furthermore, the platform is to award consumers PLN 40 each redeemable at zalando.pl in specific ways.

Last July (2023), the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) instituted proceedings against the Zalando sales platform. The allegations concerned, among other things, the failure to communicate the status of sellers on the platform as required by law. Customers, using the said platform, can not only buy products from Zalando itself, but also from their partners, something they were not duly informed about. In no way could they be sure that they were buying a given product from a trader and, consequently, whether they were entitled to all their rights arising from that fact when making the purchase.

Also missing was clarity on what the division of contractual responsibilities is between the platform and the partner posting the offer. Customers might have experienced problems in finding out to whom to address a complaint, who to inform about the cancellation of a purchase, or to whom to send the returned goods.

The decision by the President of UOKiK has ordered Zalando to modify its websites with regard to the information obligations under the Omnibus Directive.

– To make informed purchasing decisions, a customer needs to have complete, easily accessible and clearly presented information. This is especially relevant for online sales. The unavailability of face-to-face contact means that numerous issues that, in conventional shops, are dealt with by intuition - by talking to a salesperson - can generate a number of uncertainties in e-commerce. A consumer shopping online must be as safe as in a conventional shop. For that reason, we attribute great importance to guarding and enforcing the provisions of the Omnibus Directive - notes President of UOKiK, Tomasz Chróstny.

As well as the changes to the website, the company will award a PLN 40 voucher to all consumers who have purchased products from its partners via Zalando between 1 January 2023 and the date of fulfilment of the obligation.  It will be redeemable within 6 months to purchase products sold by Zalando (including products discounted beforehand), excluding products sold by partners. The company will communicate the award of the voucher via e-mail.

The Omnibus Directive has been in force since 1 January 2023. Ever since, the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) has been monitoring the way online trading platforms have adapted to the new obligations. Following the intervention by UOKiK, a large number of traders have changed their actions or declared that they would introduce some modifications. This includes the operators of such platforms as: Glovo, Uber Eats, Pyszne.pl, Wolt, Bolt Food, Aliexpress, Wakacje.pl, FREE NOW, Uber, Bolt, Facebook, Morele.net, Empik, Triverna.pl, Travelist, Amazon, and Allegro. 
The President of UOKiK has brought charges against two other entities - the Booking.com platform and Travelist.pl. Travelist.pl has already been served with a commitment decision.