Cross-channel

German ecommerce giant Otto Group has disbanded its toys platform MyToys. The platform was not able to become profitable. All of its stores will have to close. The decision leads to a cut of 800 jobs.

German discounter Aldi is again expanding its ecommerce division. It has announced that it will launch an online shopping service for non-food products. The service will launch in the next few years.

The French Beaumanoir Group wants to acquire fashion retailer Sarenza. The online shop is now in the hands of Monoprix. According to the Beaumanoir Group, Sarenza will strengthen their ecommerce activities.

Ecommerce software Shopify and online video streaming platform YouTube are launching YouTube Shopping. The feature offers multiple options for live shopping, where users can purchase products directly on YouTube’s website.

JohnBeerens.com, the online beauty retailer from the Netherlands, is launching in France and Germany. The company is also working on its own product label and customer loyalty program.

Inditex, the major clothing retail group from Spain, is now charging a fixed fee for online returns. The owner of brands such as Zara, Pull & Bear and Bershka is implementing this change in 30 countries. It wants to motivate customers to return items in brick-and-mortar stores.

H&M is bouncing back from the pandemic: in 2021 the fashion retailer made 1,36 billion euros in pre-tax profits - a sixfold increase compared to the year before. Their online branch remains strong, though, growing 30 percent in the past year.

Ceconomy, the German mother company of electronic stores such as Mediamarkt, made one third of its profit from online sales in 2020. Their online revenue increased more than half in the last year. The numbers are clearly a result of coronavirus-related measures.

Charity shops in the United Kingdom are looking more and more at ecommerce after losing thousands of euros of income during the lockdowns. The number of items sold online by British charity shops has increased by 151 percent between February and July of this year.

Live shopping in Europe is becoming more and more popular. This trend started in China and the rest of Southeast Asia, but now consumers in Europe are increasingly watching live shopping events to get inspired to buy some clothes and other fashion items.

Aldi seems to prepare for a better ecommerce strategy. Aldi Süd is gradually rolling outs its globally uniform IT system across its shop network across 20 countries. The discounter is laying the groundwork for ecommerce.

Oveit, an ecommerce tech startup from Romania, aims to raise 450,000 euros through an equity crowdfunding campaign on the local platform SeedBlink. Oveit is known for its live stream shopping service called Streams.live, which lets retailers sell directly to consumers through live video sessions.

Inditex, the major clothing company from Spain, has shown some strong growth online. The retail group is taking more and more steps in its digital transformation and that's not without results. For the first time, Inditex processed one million orders in one day.

German DIY-store Hornbach saw its online turnover increase significantly during the Covid-19 outbreak in Europe. The company quickly changed its click-and-collect model and also tested a home delivery model where its own store employees took care of the deliveries.

Everli, the Italian ecommerce marketplace formerly known as Supermercato24, has announced a partnership with Kaufland in Poland. The partnership allows people from 17 cities in Poland to order groceries from a Kaufland store through the Everli website or app.