Posts by Arjan

Whoppah, a marketplace for second-hand design and art, has recently entered the French market. The Dutch company previously spread its wings to Belgium and Germany. Its ambitions are pan-European.

The European Parliament has agreed on new rules to reduce, reuse, and recycle packaging. In the future, only up to half of the packaging used by ecommerce companies within the European Union may be empty.

PayPal was the most used online payment method among German online shoppers in 2023, like the year before. However, the American company saw its share of the local payment market decrease. Buy now, pay later services are on the rise.

Asos has suffered a significant loss in turnover, down by 18 percent in the first half of its fiscal year. The British pure online player has taken drastic measures and believes that, partly due to faster production processes, it will be able to return to profitability in the next fiscal year.

Alibaba.com has announced the launch of the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) in Europe. With the initiative, Alibaba’s B2B platform aims to promote gender equality in business and support female entrepreneurship.

Otto saw a significant decline in revenue in the past fiscal year. However, the trading volume slightly increased, thanks to sales from partners on Otto's marketplace. They account for one-third of the income. Otto aims to expand its marketplace offering within Europe.

Kaufland, one of the larger ecommerce platforms in Germany, is expanding to Poland and Austria this coming late summer. Schwarz Gruppe, the owner of Kaufland and supermarket chain Lidl, has more online plans: it is allocating 200 million for Lidl's ecommerce activities.

The federal German government intends to amend data protection law. The legislative proposal includes tightening creditworthiness checks, which could have a negative impact on Klarna and other payment service providers. They fear they may no longer be able to conduct automatic credit checks.

Temu does not recognize itself in the criticism from German consumer organizations. They have accused the platform full of Chinese bargains of unfair trading practices. According to Temu, the company is unfairly portrayed in a bad light.

The European Court of Justice has ruled that Amazon must establish a publicly accessible advertising repository. The obligation stems from European platform rules outlined in the Digital Services Act (DSA). Amazon has stated that it is disappointed by the ruling.

Alibaba is making targeted efforts to attract European SMEs. According to the company itself, it has been successful: the number of SME buyers from Germany has increased by 14 percent in the past six months. Additionally, more and more British SMEs are using Alibaba.com as their procurement platform.

Amazon Business promotes business procurement from SMEs with the introduction of a new feature in the United Kingdom. This feature enables procurement professionals to make targeted purchases from sellers with fewer than 250 employees and less than 50 million euros in revenue.

eBay has witnessed a significant increase in trade between German consumers on its platform. The number of sellers has grown by double-digit percentages, partly due to the elimination of selling costs. The company sees room for further growth.

For the second consecutive year, Zalando has seen a decline in its revenue. A growing portion of its income comes from sales partners on the platform. Zalando aims to actively focus on providing support to other ecommerce companies.

The customs legislation in Switzerland is undergoing a major overhaul. The legislative amendment, approved by the National Council, could have significant implications for parcel delivery in Switzerland. Critics anticipate that it will become slower, more complicated, and more expensive.