Cross-border

Ecommerce fulfillment and customer service provider Salesupply is launching a hybrid AI chatbot. It is meant to reduce customer service costs for online sellers, while also improving customer experience. Soon, the company wants to implement the technology in mail and telephone customer service inquiries as well.

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.

German online platform Kaufland is changing its seller fees by the end of this month. In most product categories, the fees either increase of decrease one percent. However, fees for small household appliances will increase more.

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.

The total European value of B2B goods sold online is estimated to reach 1.7 trillion euros by 2025. However, B2B sellers in Europe are not utilizing all available opportunities yet. Most of them only allow local buyers to shop their goods.

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.

The total European DIY retail sector was valued at 368 billion euros in 2023. And 15.2 percent of that came from ecommerce sales, reaching 56 billion euros. The market’s ecommerce share is estimated to increase 18 percent by 2025, to 66 billion euros.

Last year, Dutch consumers spent 34.7 billion euros online. Compared to 2022, this is an increase of 3 percent. The amount of online purchases increased by 1 percent, to 365 million. Online growth was mainly caused by an increase in spending on services.

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.

German recommerce platform Rebuy recorded a turnover of 216 million euros last year. This means that the company is now profitable for the fifth year in a row. Around 10 million products were sold through the platform and given a second life.

The German well-known Otto Group’s global ecommerce revenue is expected to reach 10.8 billion euros in the financial year of 2023, which ends today. This is a decrease of 9 percent compared to a year earlier. Unlike previous years, the decrease in sales is also noticeable in its cross-border markets.

Dutch omnichannel retailer Coolblue has generated a revenue of 2.41 billion euros last year. This was an increase of 2.5 percent compared to a year earlier. Additionally, the company doubled its earnings before interest to 88.3 million euros.

Shein and Temu send tons of goods daily from China to Europe. In Germany alone, it is estimated to be around 400,000 packages per day, or nearly 150 million per year. This has serious consequences for the air freight market, experts say.

Ecommerce software solution Wix has partnered with Global-e, a cross-border software solution. As a result, sellers can benefit from new features like a localized checkout, multiple currencies and pricing according to specific markets.

Pineca has launched an Austrian online store. This is the fourth new market that the online supplier of prefabricated wooden buildings has targeted in the last 14 months. The company now operates in nine European countries in total.