Cross-border

Centra, a direct-to-consumer and wholesale platform for global brands, has been growing significantly during the pandemic last year. The Swedish company is now aiming for an aggressive, international expansion this year. It has made several new recruitments to achieve this goal.

Dutch wholesale marketplace Orderchamp has announced its expansion to Germany. It's the fifth market where the B2B platform officially has a presence. It's also active in the Benelux and France. After a soft-launch, Orderchamp will now open an office in Germany to further penetrate this market.

Wildberries has launched dedicated ecommerce websites in France, Italy, and Spain. The entry into these markets follows after Wildberries' launch in Germany last month. The major Russian online retailer is now available in several countries across Europe.

Zalando has expanded its pre-owned online store Zircle to Scandinavia. Customers in Sweden and Denmark can now also buy pre-owned fashion via this online platform. And there's a very logical reason for this specific expansion to Scandinavia.

Dutch payment fintech unicorn Mollie has entered the United Kingdom. Here it will support British merchants who are looking to grow into Europe. The payment service provider has enhanced its services available to UK companies who can incorporate several EU payment methods into their online stores.

Picnic has shown strong growth in 2020 and is busy with the expansion to France. Sources say that last year, the Dutch online supermarket had managed to double its revenue, which is now predicted to be worth almost half a billion euros.

Dutch fulfillment company Active Ants is growing fast. In October 2020, the company opened its second fulfillment center in the Netherlands, and the opening of two other sites are already planned. Ecommerce News Europe spoke with managing partner Jeroen Dekker about their ambitions.

Sellpy has launched in both the Netherlands and Austria today. The second-hand platform, which is part of H&M Group, is now active in four countries across Europe. Previously, it launched in Sweden and Germany.

Tom Omnichannel Management has launched Spanish versions of eleven of its online shops. The Dutch omnichannel ecommerce company says it now wants to focus even more on the international market.

Cross-border ecommerce sales from the United Kingdom saw a 57 percent year-on-year increase in 2020. Outbound online sales grew substantially from April up to the holiday period, with a significant spike starting in September.

Wildberries, the biggest ecommerce company in Russia, has launched its online store in Germany. It's the start of a major expansion to Europe. Wildberries is now looking to open ecommerce websites in France, Italy, and Spain.

Envolve Tech, a retail tech company from Wales, has entered the US market. The Newport-based company has launched an office in New York. The expansion follows after raising over 800,000 euros last year.

OnBuy, a major online marketplace from the United Kingdom, has started an aggressive global expansion plan. The company wants to launch into more than 140 countries by the end of 2023. The plans follow after securing 5.5 million euros in a Series A funding round last June.

The Platform Group, which has been selling fashion and shoes online in Germany for years through its brands Schuhe24 and Outfits24, is expanding to France. It launched shopping portal EnVogue, which is aimed at online fashion shoppers from France.

For certain fast-moving consumer goods categories, half of retailers and wholesalers in the European Union experience supply constraints that are based on their location. These restrictions could limit traders to source goods in, and to resell goods to, other EU countries.