Cross-border

Popular German online pet supply store Zooplus has increased its total sales to 2.09 billion euros in 2021. This is a 16 percent growth when compared to a year before. The company lost market share to Fressnapf, but expects to increase sales to 2.3 billion euros in this year.

Eurora, which offers compliance solutions for cross-border ecommerce businesses, has raised 40 million dollars (37.94 million euros) in a Series A round. The capital injection will be used to accelerate the Estonian company's international expansion.

Cross-border ecommerce in Europe was worth 171.2 billion euros in 2021. This is a growth of 17 percent when compared to the year before. European online businesses generated a cross-border revenue of 100 billion euros.

German fashion retailer About You has released its preliminary Q4 and full-year results. It was able to grow its revenue between 48.3 and 50.5 percent when compared to a year before. However, the branch is also suffering millions in losses because of growth investments.

Online furniture retailer Made.com has shared its full year results for 2021. The cross-border seller reports a loss before tax of 37.8 million euros. This is a further decline of 18.8 million euros when compared to the year before. According to the company, this is a result of global supply chain challenges and inflation.

Online furniture and home goods retailer Wayfair has reported a net revenue of 12.2 billion euros in 2021. In 2020, the platform made a revenue of 12.6 billion euros, illustrating that sales have decreased slightly. However, it expects to grow strongly in the coming years. It wants to surpass the 100 billion euro revenue mark by 2030.

AO, the online electrical retailer, is considering leaving the German market. The company from the United Kingdom launched there in 2014 but is struggling due to fierce competition, increasing costs and supply chain issues.

European online retailer VidaXL has rebranded its dropshipping service to dropshippingXL. Since doing so, the company has grown its product range and logistics facilities. DropshippingXL now has plans to expand to more countries within Europe.

The Dutch online seller of cushions with infrared heating, has entered the French and Danish market. In addition to these countries, the company is already active in Germany, Belgium and Austria as well. Due to its fast growth, Stoov won the number one spot in the Dutch CrossBorder Top 30.

Though Dutch consumers are still placing more cross-border orders within the EU, in Q2 2021 there was a growth of 17 percent when compared to last year. In total, they spent more than 800 million euros in online stores within the EU. This is a slower growth than in previous quarters.

Dutch parcel deliverer Red je Pakketjes launches international online sending platform Shiplee. With the new platform, Red Je Pakketje wants to expand its parcel delivery services further in Europe.

Because of the pandemic, more and more consumers find their way to online stores. It's encouraged consumers to buy from retailers they'd never ordered from before, which has made cross-border shopping grow exponentially. Can retailers take advantage from this during the holidays?

PayPal will raise the fees for payments between businesses in the United Kingdom and those in Europe. The reason for this price increase is Brexit. With the UK no longer being part of the European Economic Area, PayPal's costs are higher than usual.

Online retailers that want to become cross-border sellers and focus on growth markets, should pick Italy. The Italian ecommerce is expected to grow exponentially on short notice. To become successful, international sellers should be aware of local consumer preferences.

German supermarket chain Edeka has launched a new, international purchasing alliance. Together with European colleagues such as Picnic, Biedronka, Jerónimo Martins and Magnit, the purchasing alliance, called Epic Partners, should help with negotiating great deals with brand manufacturers.