European fashion retailer Zalando has said it has an unconventional competitor in the likes of photo-sharing app Instagram as the social platform moves further into the online retail space.

Zalando’s vice president of womenswear Sara Diez said the fashion retailer’s biggest future competitor will be Instagram rather than the likes of Asos and Amazon.

Diez said Zalando is often compared to fashion retailer Asos – though the European retailer is much bigger with 300 million site visitors a month – but said the two sites “complement each other” rather than compete with each other. 

“Instagram is inspirational and easy for customers to use,” Diez said. The former Nike senior director said she did not see Amazon as a competitor due to its current lack of fashionability.

Instagram’s new boss Adam Mosseri has laid out 5-10 year plans to move into the online retail space and said the social media network can “unlock a lot of value from everyone involved in ecommerce”. 

In March, Instagram launched its shoppable function in the US allowing 20 fashion brands like Nike and Zara to sell directly through the platform through a partnership with Paypal.

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Zalando: ‘Instagram will be our biggest competitor’