Zola is a wedding registry, planning, and retail e-commerce company designed to facilitate the full spectrum of acti🏅vities weddings require, from using a wedding planning checklist to honeymoon experiences to filling your home with the necessities of married life.

Zola makes money by charging vendors to connect with coupl꧅es and collecting a share of sales made using its website.

Zola's Industry

Zola operates in the wedding services industry. It's competing for market space with Amazon, Walmart, Macy's, Pottery Barn, Bloomingdale's, and many others, large and small. The global wedding services industry was estimated to be $182.6 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow 12.7% by 2030.

Business Model

The company appeals to millennials with its enormous online product catalog and easy-to-use app. Zola makes it easy to add or remove products and services to a registry with a swipe to the left or right, and provides a convenient alternative to the hours of wandering stores and scanning everything in sight. By providing one centralized online location for a couple's registry, it cuts 🐼shopping time ♍for wedding guests.

In addition, Zola offers features that set it apart from traditional gift registries. Gift buyers can pool their money to collectively purchase the most expensive items on a couple's list. Couples can also request cash they might apply toward a honeymoon, a dream home, or whatever they choose. The ability to pool money together is a dream come true for couples. Couples can also choose when gifts are delivered, so they do not need to worry about their new dishes being left on the porch while they are on their honeymoon. Finally, Zola also has tools to help couples think outside the box when creating their registry lists, with features that can suggest interesting products they might never have thought of.

Zola's website provides access to wedding planning solutions such as calendars, registries, reminders, vendor locations, and guest lists. The company recruits vendors who list their products and services on the e-commerce site, some of which offer various tailored experiences, discounts, wedding website building, and much more.

Zola's Fundraising and Financials

Zola's latest fundraising round was in 2020. Over eight rounds, it has raised about $240.8M. Seventeen investors have participated in the round, including Comcast Ventures, Lightspeed Ventures, Thrive Capital, Forerunner, and BAM Ventures. The company is rumored to have been valued at $650 million in 2019.

Where the Revenue Comes From

Similar to other online stores, Zola earns money by taking a cut of the purchases made through its site. When a customer🍃 buys an experience through Zola, like a guided trip or a wine tour, the company keeps some of the sale. When a customer buys a product, Zola keeps an amount comparable to other retailers.

Because the vast majority of the items Zola sells are shipped directly from the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:manufacturer or vendor, the company itself has practically no 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:inventory. This means Zola has a much smaller overhead than competing services. While other sites such as Amazon (AMZN) offer registry services with wide ranges of products, Zola differentiates itself with a large selection of activity packages, cash options, and numerous ways to personalize the experience.

History and Leadership

Zola was co-founded in 2013 by Australian entrepreneur Shan-Lyn Ma, former Chief Product Officer at Chloe+Isabel and Gilt Group's product lead. Ma founded the company with Nobu Nakaguchi, the former director of user experience and product management at Gilt Group. They were joined by Gilt Group founder Kevin Ryan and other colleagues at Gilt.

Recent Developments

Zola continues to add new wedding tools and services, in addition to offering wedding industry reports annuꦜally tha🔯t cover wedding planning trends.

In April 2024, Zola announced an artificial intelligence tool designed to help couples split wedding planning chores fairly. The company found in client surveys that couples' most significant concern when planning a wedding is that one person usually takes on more planning work (or decision-making) than the other. This leads to strain between the couple—the AI tool was created to help couples share wedding decision-making.

In its 2024 Wedding Trends report, Zola found that the average wedding costs more than $30,000. It's survey also found that 89% of couples begin planning their wedding before one party asks the other to marry them.

In November 2024, Zola launched a card game called Imagine the Day. In it, couples draw cards to playfully discuss their future plans, values, money, and many of the issues they will face on their journey together.

The Bottom Line

Zola is a wedding planning services business that connects vendors and couples. Couples can create wedding and𒐪 baby registries, collect funds from family and friends, and spend the funds on the website. Friends and family can purchase items 💟from the registry while the couple is assisted with planning their big day.

Zola makes money by collecting sales percentages from vendors and manufacturers, but doesn't take any money from couples planning their events.