Cross-border

Takko Fashion, a major textile discount formula from Germany, has further expanded its European ecommerce activities. Shortly after opening an online store in the Netherlands, the company has started online sales in France.

Online supplier of prefabricated wooden buildings, Pineca, is launching an online store in Sweden. It is the company’s third expansion in Europe in the last 12 months. It already has plans for a future expansion to Austria.

Ochama, a retail concept from the Chinese ecommerce giant JD.com, has announced the expansion of its home delivery services to an additional 19 European countries, bringing the total to 24 countries on the continent.

Parcel delivery service Instabox is discontinuing its services in Germany. According to the company, its volumes in the market are not high enough to sustain its operations. Just a year ago, the company already went bankrupt in the Netherlands.

Last year, the total online cross-border market in Europe generated a turnover of 265 billion euros. At least 63 percent, 167 billion euros, was generated by marketplaces. These data include global cross-border sellers, such as Amazon and AliExpress.

British fashion retailer JD Sports has reached an agreement to take over Courir. The company will pay 520 million euros for the French retail chain. Courir has more than 300 stores and is active in several countries.

The European online fashion and beauty market generated a turnover of 122 billion euros in 2022. And 45 billion euros of that turnover was cross-border. The market is projected to reach sales of 144 billion euros by 2026.

Ocado has returned to profitability on a group level. The British online supermarket and solutions provider reported a gross profit (EBITDA) of 16.6 million pounds for the first half of this year. According to CEO Tim Steiner, Ocado demonstrates 'the potential for our international ambitions'.

In terms of cross-border market share, compared to the total online market, Luxembourg is the top 1 cross-border country in 2022. Its cross-border market share is 80 percent. The country’s total cross-border turnover was 1.8 billion euros.

Consumers' pursuit of more affordable prices is fueling cross-border shopping behavior, according to a consumer study conducted by Worldline in six European countries.

The European Commission is planning to impose import duties on goods up to 150 euros, which are currently exempted. Brussels has previously abolished VAT exemptions. These measures strengthen the position of traders within the Union.

While other flash delivery companies are downsizing or merging, Wolt is expanding its coverage area. With its launch in Vienna and Reykjavik, the Finnish company is now active in 25 countries, almost all of them in Europe. Wolt delivers orders for both restaurants and retailers.

PDD Holdings has opened an office in the Irish capital Dublin. It concerns the head office, according to international news outlets, but the company itself vehemently denies this. PDD is the owner of the Chinese online platform Pinduoduo and the international ecommerce comet Temu, recently launched in six European countries.

During a plenary session, the European Parliament approved revised rules on product safety of non-food consumer products. According to the new rules, products from outside the EU can be sold on the market if an economic operator in the EU is responsible for its safety.

Cross-border ecommerce in Europe was worth 179.4 billion euros in 2022. This is an increase of 4.8 percent compared to a year earlier. In total, European online stores achieved a record-high turnover of 105.5 billion euros across borders, a 5.5 percent increase compared to 2021.