Amazon may no longer influence the prices set by sellers on its German marketplace – something the company has been doing. Amazon must change its policies and may only exert price influence in exceptional cases. It must also repay 59 million euros in economic benefits.
Nearly a quarter of German consumers use online subscriptions for products such as razor blades, shampoo, or flowers. On average, they have three active subscriptions. This is according to research by the digital industry association Bitkom among more than 1,000 German consumers.
Dutch marketplace Bol is introducing ‘a completely new ecosystem category’: third-party fulfillment, or 3PL for short. The market leader is looking for logistics companies that can help partner sellers with warehouse space and processing orders. Currently, sellers can only outsource fulfillment to Bol itself, but soon they will also be able to outsource to other fulfillment companies within the network.
Three German software companies have unveiled an end-to-end ecommerce solution, where all data and processes stay in Europe. Cloud provider STACKIT, platform provider Empiriecom and IT service provider Adesso have created an ecosystem that gives online sellers data sovereignty, in accordance with legal standards.
The number of low-cost ecommerce parcels that the European Union received from outside the Union rose sharply again last year, increasing by 26 percent. In total, 5.8 billion parcels with a value of up to 150 euros were imported. That amounts to roughly one parcel per EU citizen per month.