Pleuni Jacobs is the editor-in-Chief at Ecommerce News Europe, where she has been working since 2019. She mostly writes news and background articles. She is also the person responsible for adding events to our event calendar. If you have questions about getting your event mentioned on our website, chances are that she will be the one answering them.
Do you want to read more of Pleuni’s work? Check out our other websites: Ecommerce News Nederland, Crowdfundmarkt, Investeerders, Investment Platforms Europe and Ondernemen en Internet.
Before Ecommerce News, Pleuni studied Psychology and obtained a Master’s degree in Gender Studies. After that, she started out as a freelance writer but soon noticed that she wanted to work with colleagues. Then she found Ecommerce News, where she has been working ever since. Nowadays, she mostly writes news and background articles. She also manages advertisements and edits content from other editors.
Only 28 percent of the 100 largest online stores in Belgium and the Netherlands offer customer service in the evening. And only 44 percent use WhatsApp as a customer service channel, even though the app is very popular among consumers. As a result, online stores are missing out on conversions.
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.
Ecommerce giant Temu has suspended cross-border sales of products in Türkiye. Consumers in the country can only see and buy products from local online sellers that offer domestic shipping. The change comes after a regulatory inspection from Türkiye’s Competition Authority, and it is unclear if it is a permanent change or not.
Fashion brand Topshop has launched a dedicated European online store. The new website is active across 23 markets in Europe. The brand, which was formerly known as a high street brand, has undergone a digital transformation.
Finnish ecommerce platform Wolt has launched an update for its app. With the update, the company wants to take a step towards becoming a multi-category commerce platform. It gives retailers more opportunities to showcase their products to a wide audience.
This week, eBay announced that it is launching eBay SpeedPAK in Germany. The service offers sellers a customs-cleared shipping, with import duties already paid. It makes international shipping easier for German sellers.
Product discovery still mostly happens on marketplaces, with 37 percent of consumers starting their shopping journey there. Compared to last year, this is a decrease of 10 percent. Social platforms and AI assistants have increased their share in the last 12 months.
Polish ecommerce company Allegro is selling its subsidiaries in Slovenia and Croatia, to German private equity firm Mutares. This means that Mimovrste, a well-known online retailer in Slovenia, will get a new owner. The sale is an effort to streamline Allegro Group’s financial results.
As of January 1st, Bulgaria has joined the eurozone. The euro is now the official currency in the country. As currency conversions are now eliminated, international shops can now sell products in this country more easily. This offers new opportunities for the online retail trade.
Online fashion platform Asos has announced that it is introducing a returns transparency tool for its shoppers in the United Kingdom. This will give customers more information over their personal return rate, which influences their return fees. The feature will go live on 6 January.
Ecommerce is well-established in Ireland. A large majority of the population has internet access, and the country has one of the highest percentages of online shoppers. It is expected that the online market will continue growing in the coming years.
Ecommerce giant Shein has announced that it is launching a logistics center near Wrocław, in Poland. The center will become the company’s main operational hub in Europe. The area will be around 740,000 square meters.
Online marketplaces dominate almost every stage of the purchase journey of consumers in the United Kingdom. In high-value purchases of more than 90 euros, 30 percent of shoppers in the country use marketplaces, ahead of physical stores and other websites.
According to a recent study, 95 percent of German retailers have experienced unfair customer reviews. These include false claims and personal attacks. Customers often use these reviews to put pressure on a business.
Return rates of online orders are an issue for many sellers. In the online fashion sector in the DACH countries, 87.7 percent of sellers report return rates of up to 50 percent. Around 80 percent of online sellers in the region do not expect that return rates will improve in the next three years.