Marketplaces

Furniture and houseware retailer Home24 is expanding its marketplace to more European countries. The platform for third-party sellers launched in Germany this summer. By the end of 2022, it will enter Austria, France and Switzerland.

The Ukranian government has launched an online marketplace called Made with Bravery. Brands and makers from the Ukraine can sell their products on the platform. Of every purchase, 5 percent is donated to the United24 platform, which collects donations to help rebuild the country.

The European online fashion retail market is set to grow 50 percent by 2025. The online turnover of this market will reach 175 billion euros, which equals 33 percent of the retail branch’s total. Cross-border marketplaces are the biggest drivers behind these growth.

The operator behind Pigu and Hobby Hall Group (PHH Group), well-known marketplaces in the Baltics, has partnered with SME Finance. Together, they are launching collateral-free revenue-based financing (RBF) to marketplace sellers. Merchants can get access to financing within the same-day of their request.

Benelux’s leading marketplace Bol.com now has 50.000 partner sellers. The past three years the number of merchants almost doubled. Partners are responsible for 60 percent of the platform’s revenue in the first quarter of 2022. The growth in sellers is slowing down after the pandemic, though.

Secondhand fashion marketplace Vinted wants to acquire competitor Rebelle. The company offered 30,2 million euros for the acquisition. The deal received a positive response from commission members and shareholders of Rebelle.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK is investigating Amazon on its dominant position in the UK. Amazon could be distorting competition. “Any loss of competition is a loss to consumers”, says Sarah Cardell, general counsel at CMA.

Ecommerce giant Amazon is launching in Belgium, with Amazon Belgium. The marketplace is said to launch in September. Earlier this year, the company announced plans of opening a logistics center in the country.

Berlin Brands Group, which became a unicorn last year, has to let go ten percent of its staff. In total, the German aggregator will fire about a hundred employees. Where ecommerce has grown exponentially during the pandemic, the growth now is slowing down. Instead of aggressive growth, Berlin Brands Group will focus on profitability.

Trendyol, the ecommerce platform from Turkey, is launching in Germany. It marks the first market outside of Turkey as well as Trendyol’s entry into Europe. The platform also has plans to launch in the Netherlands, Luxembourg and London by next year.

The Fortia Group assists Amazon merchants looking to sell their ecommerce business. After one year of operations they have closed 7 takeovers, the highest being valued over 16 million euros. CEO Emmett Kilduff: “We are on track to complete 30 deals in 2022.”

Ecommerce aggregator eBrands has raised 30 million dollars (29 million euros) in a new funding round. The Finnish company will use the funds for increased acquisition and international expansion. To date, eBrands has raised close to 50 million euros.

Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba Group wants to expand its marketplace Lazada into Europe. Lazada will focus on local merchants instead of cross-border sales like AliExpress. Only recently, Alibaba’s logistics company Cainiao set foot in Belgium.

Recently, French furniture retailer Maisons du Monde expanded on its website with a marketplace. The marketplace launched in France in 2020. Now, it's rolling out the marketplace in Spain with 150 partner brands.

Online fashion marketplace Secret Sales is entering Belgium and the Netherlands with dedicated online shops. The websites will be managed by a local team in the Netherlands. It's the first step in the company's planned European expansion.