Arjan van Oosterhout has been contributing to Ecommerce News Europe since the spring of 2023. He writes news articles for the website on a freelance basis.
Arjan is an experienced journalist in the field of ecommerce. After his student days in Utrecht, he began his career in 2004 at the South African newspaper, the Cape Argus, in Cape Town. Upon his return to the Netherlands, Arjan transitioned into trade journalism. He worked for MarketingTribune and, since 2008, served as an editor and later editor-in-chief of Twinkle, a well-known Dutch trade publication on digital commerce. He was also closely involved with the Twinkle100, an annual study of the largest online retailers in the Netherlands.
Since 2020, Arjan has been an independent entrepreneur. Under the company name Bureau AvO, he works for various journalistic and commercial clients, contributing to articles, magazines, books, and conferences, always at the intersection of content and commerce.
Vinted is performing well in 2025: revenue grows by 40 percent to over 1 billion euros. The company’s gross merchandise volume (GMV) surpasses the mark of 10 billion euros, according to CEO Thomas Plantenga on LinkedIn. “A big year for Vinted.”
The Platform Group (TPG) has published a vision document towards 2030. The German company, which operates a variety of marketplaces on its own software, plans to expand into more product categories and attract tens of thousands of additional sales partners. Its profitability must increase.
Amazon has added a new shipping option for merchants in its five largest European markets. Sellers shipping from China can benefit from fast delivery at no additional cost, according to Amazon. The solution will later be available for domestic shipments as well.
Shein and Temu together sell around 3.3 billion euros worth of products in Germany, according to the German Retail Federation (HDE). One in five German consumers plans to make purchases from the Chinese platforms in the run-up to Christmas. “That is somewhat of a paradox”, says HDE director Stefan Genth.
Amazon may have to compensate German customers for the higher Prime subscription fees it unilaterally introduced three years ago. A regional consumer protection authority, which filed the lawsuit, wants Amazon to reverse the price increase and refund the difference to its customers.
Earlier this year, the amount of online stores in the Netherlands decreased for the first time since 2013. Growth now seems to be back on track, according to new figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS). Nearly three thousand companies were added in six months. Online selling is more popular than ever, especially among self-employed professionals.
Cainiao, the logistics subsidiary of Alibaba Group, will not move forward with its planned expansion at Liège Airport in Belgium. Two new warehouses that were on the drawing board will not be built, dealing a blow to Wallonia’s ambition to turn Liège into an ecommerce logistics hotspot.
Amazon will invest more than 1.4 billion euros in the Dutch market over the next three years. Earlier this month, the company also announced an injection of more than 1 billion euros in Belgium. The American company aims to win over shoppers and online buyers across the Benelux region in its battle with local market leader bol.
Refurbed, the marketplace for refurbished electronics, household, and sports products, has raised 50 million euros for further European expansion. The fast-growing and profitable company seems to be preparing for an entry into the United Kingdom.
Amazon’s selling partners can no longer use a default handling time of two days. The company has automatically halved the timeframe, to the surprise of many sellers. From now on, they must manually set longer handling times in Seller Central, on a per-item basis.
TikTok has launched Shop Local in the United Kingdom, a support scheme for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The competition promotes the sale of homegrown goods to British consumers, with packages to help local businesses set up and start selling on the platform.
Zalando has taken new steps in Southern Europe. The German company has launched a dedicated website for Portugal. Additionally, Zalando has started selling beauty products in Spain, which have not yet been part of the offering in the neighboring country.
Amazon is investing over one billion euros in the Belgian market over the next three years. The American company aims to improve the customer experience for Belgian shoppers and help small and medium-sized businesses grow both domestically and internationally.
Large international online platforms have grown rapidly in the Netherlands in recent years. However, local players still dominate the market. According to the latest Twinkle100, AliExpress, Shein and Temu are not among the ten largest online retailers in the country. Far from it. Amazon has also taken a step back, in both turnover and ranking.
The Belgian government is considering introducing a levy on parcels imported from outside the European Union. The 2 euro fee per parcel would affect Chinese online retailers such as AliExpress, Shein and Temu. The government intends to use the revenue to help reduce the national budget deficit.