Marketing

Ikea has made the decision to stop printing its famous catalog. For 70 years, it has been an inspirational guide for many consumers around the world. But times are changing, and so the Swedish company has taken this "emotional but rational decision".

Amazon has stopped its advertisements for Black Friday in France. The company has taken this decision after the French government said it was unfair to small shops. The coronavirus lockdown has forced them to close the doors.

Ecommerce platform provider xSellco, which operates Repricer.com, has acquired Lucid Interactive, the company behind RepricerExpress. As a result, an enhanced version of Repricer.com has been launched today.

As of today, Ecommerce News Europe and Cross-Border Magazine are partners. Our blog and the magazine on cross-border online trade will help each other with attracting new markets and expanding their reach, both online and offline.

It's the end of an era for Argos fans. The retailer will stop printing its famous catalogue after almost 50 years. Of course, this is the result of its focus on ecommerce. The most recent Argos catalogue accounted for 3.9 million printed copies.

Checkout Charlie, a German company with many consumer and discount portals, is expanding in Europe again. The business, part of A company of the Media Group RTL Germany, has launched two new voucher portals: Buonisconto.it in Italy and Topdescuento.es in Spain.

Zalando has officially launched its loyalty program Zalando Plus in France. The all-round service was already available for customers in Germany and Switzerland, while Italy will join soon.

41 European comparison shopping services are complaining about Google. They say the search engine is "artfully avoiding compliance with the law and the decisions of authorities" and that Google continues abusing market power.

Black Friday is popular in Germany, where numerous online and physical retailers throw around discounts. But many retailers prefer there was no Black Friday at all. Still, they are captured by the attention this holiday keeps attracting.

H&M may change its business model in the near future. The Swedish fashion giant will experiment with selling external brands and products on both its online platform and in selected stores.

German consumers may be known for their saving habits, compared to other consumers in Europe they rarely use discount codes when shopping online. Only 30 percent of Germans use a coupon when they purchase something online.

Consumers in the United Kingdom want greater transparency and product information around sustainable purchases. Almost two thirds of young consumers would even reconsider their purchasing decision if retailers better communicated the impact they have on the environment.

Zalando's all-round service Zalando Plus will soon be available in more countries across Europe. The fashion retailer's loyalty scheme is already available for customers in Germany and Switzerland, but in the next twelve months, France and Italy will join.

Rakuten France has launched Club R Everywhere, an extended version of it current loyalty program Rakuten Club. With Club R Everywhere, customers from Rakuten get a 5 percent discount on purchases at partner brands, such as Nike, Expedia and Monoprix.

Pricing may be more important than ever before, but in the United Kingdom, many retailers  underestimate the importance of price and simply don't monitor prices at all. And when they do, they are spending too much time on this.