Cross-border

The European Parliament has made some progress in its proposal to simplify VAT rules for ecommerce imports. It wants to remove the threshold of 150 euros for import duties. Negotiations are still ongoing, but it has now been decided that the proposed changes will come into effect by March 2028.

Ecommerce in Spain amounted to over 84 billion euros last year, marking a 16.3 percent growth compared to 2022. Most digital trade transactions have an international dimension: in the last quarter, Spaniards spent nearly 60 percent of their money, that was spent online, abroad.

German fashion platform About You has announced that it wants to start shipping products directly from the factory to consumers. By eliminating a link in logistics, the platform hopes to lower prices and stop the loss of customers.

Temu and Shein have ten days left to provide detailed information on various aspects of their services to European shoppers. The European Commission has requested this after complaints from several consumer organizations.

The European online consumer electronics market is valued at 90 billion euros in 2023. It is expected to increase 19 percent by 2025, reaching 107 billion euros. Retailers and C2C marketplaces selling used and refurbished electronics are driving this growth.

In an open letter, Ecommerce Europe and many of its national association members are calling for a level playing field for all ecommerce players active in the European market. They explicitly advocate for better enforcement of existing regulations.

German ecommerce giant Otto is increasing the seller fees on its marketplace. The basic fee for third party sellers will rise from 39.9 euros per month to 99.9 euros. According to the platform, the change is caused by the fact that many partner sellers have added low-quality products to the marketplace in the past.

Online spending in Austria has grown by 5 percent in one year, reaching 10.6 billion euros. More than half of the expenditures are made in foreign webshops. "Dramatic”, says the Austrian Handelsverband.

At least 52.5 percent of consumers in the United Kingdom and the United Staties have bought products from online stores in another country, in the last 12 months. Fashion items are most likely to be purchased from overseas stores.

British retailers and brands are not benefiting from the growing cross-border ecommerce spending on the other side of the Channel. Especially providers of clothing and footwear have seen their sales in continental Europe drastically decrease after Brexit.

Germany’s Ministry of Finance has expressed support for the abolition of the current customs exemption that benefits Asian marketplaces. AliExpress, Shein, Temu, and other platforms currently enjoy a tax exemption on import packages valued up to 150 euros.

Online fashion platform Zalando has released its financial results for the first quarter of this year. Its revenue decreased 0.6 percent, to 2.2 billion euros. In 2023, the revenue in the first quarter came to 2.3 billion euros. However, the platform’s adjusted EBIT rose to 28.3 million euros, representing a margin of 1.3 percent.

The online European cross-border market reached a turnover of 237 billion euros in 2023. This is an increase of 32 percent compared to the year before. European online stores generated 107 billion euros in cross-border turnover.

Second-hand fashion marketplace Vinted generated a revenue of 596.3 million euros last year. This was an increase of 61 percent compared to 2022, when the platform generated 370.2 million euros. It has also reached profitability.

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.