Posts by Jasmijn

Amazon plans to close three distribution centers in the United Kingdom, the company’s biggest market in Europe. After investing heavily during the pandemic ecommerce boom, the retail giant is experiencing a dip in demand.

Dutch startup VonWood, a trade platform for wood, has raised 2.7 million euros. The company aims to connect wood buyers and lumbers more directly online, while offering more product transparency. With the funds, VonWood wants to accelerate growth.

Amazon has reached a settlement with the European Commission. The ecommerce giant says it will not use data from partner sellers for its own products. It will also add a second Buy Box. By doing this, the platform avoids a billion dollar fine.

Fashion Cloud, a B2B data startup, has raised 25 million euros in growth capital. The German company wants to use the new capital injection for product development. In addition, Fashion Cloud wants to accelerate its international expansion.

Vinted, the marketplace for secondhand fashion, has made 118 million euros in losses in 2021. That is a fivefold increase compared to a year before, when the company was only 24 million euros in the red. At the same time, revenues increased from 148 million to 245 million euros.

ChannelEngine, a Dutch marketplace integration platform, has partnered with TikTok Shop. TikTok’s social commerce feature has faced problems in Europe. Partnering with multiple ecommerce companies, including ChannelEngine, is hoped to help.

Beerwulf, the Heineken-owned online beer retailer, has launched its own marketplace in the Netherlands. Now, third party retailers can sell products on its platform. Beerwulf’s new platform will enter the United Kingdom in 2023, followed by Germany, France and Italy.

Most Europeans shop online every week or more, spending an average of over 340 euros a month. They mostly buy fashion, pay for bills or order food. One in three purchases is made crossborder. Ireland, Germany and Israel buy internationally the most, while France is the least likely to buy outside of the country.

The European Commission is working on new laws to reduce packaging waste. The plans include cutting down on empty space in ecommerce parcels as well as an increase in reusable packaging.  A draft of the rules, which was supposed to come out at the end of the month, was leaked early.

The Dutch branch of Instabox has been declared bankrupt. Instabox, known for its red parcel lockers, only recently declared to join forces with parcel deliverer Budbee under the name Instabee.

The French competition authority has ordered a fine for Essilor International, which produces lenses for glasses. The company banned selling its lenses on online platforms in the past. According to the watchdog, this has unfairly hindered ecommerce businesses.

After red numbers in the first and second quarter, Dutch marketplace Bol.com made 1,2 billion euros in revenue in Q3. That is an increase of 5,6 percent. This is mostly thanks to its 51.000 third-party sellers, who account for nearly 60 percent of sales.

Amazon has filed lawsuits in Italy and Spain in order to stop fake reviews on its platform. It marks the first criminal complaint of the ecommerce giant in Europe. Amazon also sent warnings to five websites in Germany concerning the issue.

Shopify is expanding its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) program to Europe. The program, which offers Shopify integrations for merchants, first launched last year. The company is working with local ERP software companies from the Netherlands, Germany and Spain for the European launch.

Amazon is gaining footing in the top of Dutch ecommerce. It outpaces Zalando and Wehkamp in 4th place. Bol.com remains number 1. For the first time in years, electronics store Coolblue is not the second largest online seller in the Netherlands. Albert Heijn passes the store by just 30 million euros.