Logistics

Ecommerce delivery company InPost has announced the deployment of its 2,000^th automated parcel machine in the United Kingdom. The company's locker coverage has almost doubled over the last six months.

A.P. Moller - Maersk, a major container logistics company from Denmark, has announced its intention to acquire B2C Europe, a Dutch logistics company that's specialized in B2C parcel services in Europe.

Amazon has introduced two new Fulfillment by Amazon programs in Europe to give more products a second life. With FBA Liquidations and FBA Grade and Resell, Amazon enables sellers to recoup potential losses on returned and overstock inventory.

Royal Mail has introduced its Sunday delivery service. Bloom & Wild is the first company to take advantage of this service. This means consumers across the United Kingdom can now have flowers delivered on a Sunday.

eBay will roll out a new service in the United Kingdom: eBay fulfilment by Orange Connex. This is an end-to-end fulfillment service for eBay business sellers located in the UK. It offers same-day handling, late cut off times and the option of next-day or standard delivery to end customers.

The Carrefour Group will acquire a minority stake in Cajoo, a French startup that delivers groceries in under 15 minutes. For Carrefour, the investment is a way to speed up quick commerce in France. Cajoo operates in ten cities across France and has over 100,000 users.

While 45 percent of British consumers say that next-day delivery would make them more likely to shop with a merchant, 66 percent of retailers offer this kind of service. Also, some retailers fail to meet consumers' needs regarding free delivery.

Noyes, a German provider of very small warehouses, has raised 3.8 million dollars (3.23 million euros) in seed funding. The investment comes at a time where there are many instant-delivery providers looking for storefronts that can be converted into small warehouses.

Major online retailers in Germany are, in general, very generous when it comes to their return policy. Every second retailer extends its return period beyond the legal minimum. And 13 percent of ecommerce companies who specify a time period for remittances pay earlier than promised.

Latvijas Pasts, the state-owned postal service provider from Latvia, has announced it's building a network of home parcel lockers in Latvia. The network will be open to all logistics service providers and consists of lockers created by Cleveron, an Estonian tech company.

Byrd, which offers ecommerce fulfillment, has raised 16 million euros in a Series B funding round. The Austrian company will use the money to further expand in Europe. It's currently active in five European markets, but is set to expand to five more.

Carrefour has announced that, across France, it will roll out over 400 automatic lockers for picking up parcels. The locker network is the result of a partnership with Pickup, a subsidiary of the La Poste group.

French parcel delivery platform Mondial Relay has announced its expansion to the Netherlands. In the center of the country, the company opened a sorting center from which it can reach a thousand pick-up and drop-off points.

French postal service company La Poste has launched a new investment fund for startups that have a positive impact. With La Poste Ventures, the French company wants to anticipate changes in important sectors for the Group and explore new business models.

Scurri, a delivery management platform from Ireland, has secured 9 million euros in a new funding round. The software provider wants to use the money to accelerate its growth in the United Kingdom.