Shein and Temu together sell around 3.3 billion euros worth of products in Germany, according to the German Retail Federation (HDE). One in five German consumers plans to make purchases from the Chinese platforms in the run-up to Christmas. “That is somewhat of a paradox”, says HDE director Stefan Genth.
Amazon may have to compensate German customers for the higher Prime subscription fees it unilaterally introduced three years ago. A regional consumer protection authority, which filed the lawsuit, wants Amazon to reverse the price increase and refund the difference to its customers.
Cainiao, the logistics subsidiary of Alibaba Group, will not move forward with its planned expansion at Liège Airport in Belgium. Two new warehouses that were on the drawing board will not be built, dealing a blow to Wallonia’s ambition to turn Liège into an ecommerce logistics hotspot.
Amazon will invest more than 1.4 billion euros in the Dutch market over the next three years. Earlier this month, the company also announced an injection of more than 1 billion euros in Belgium. The American company aims to win over shoppers and online buyers across the Benelux region in its battle with local market leader bol.
Amazon’s selling partners can no longer use a default handling time of two days. The company has automatically halved the timeframe, to the surprise of many sellers. From now on, they must manually set longer handling times in Seller Central, on a per-item basis.
In the financial year between 2024 and 2025, the European cross-border ecommerce market reached a turnover of 358.7 billion euros. And 247.5 billion euros, or 70 percent, of that was generated by online marketplaces.
TikTok has launched Shop Local in the United Kingdom, a support scheme for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The competition promotes the sale of homegrown goods to British consumers, with packages to help local businesses set up and start selling on the platform.
Around 50 percent of online shoppers in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom have shopped at Temu or Shein this year. Compared to a year ago, the amount of shoppers using those platforms has not changed much. It seems that Temu’s and Shein’s growth in Europe has slowed down.
Zalando has taken new steps in Southern Europe. The German company has launched a dedicated website for Portugal. Additionally, Zalando has started selling beauty products in Spain, which have not yet been part of the offering in the neighboring country.
On average, online sellers are active on six different marketplaces. As 63 percent of consumers prefer marketplaces over brand sites, sellers need to make sure that their products are present there. However, selling on marketplaces comes with its own challenges as well.
Amazon is investing over one billion euros in the Belgian market over the next three years. The American company aims to improve the customer experience for Belgian shoppers and help small and medium-sized businesses grow both domestically and internationally.
Large international online platforms have grown rapidly in the Netherlands in recent years. However, local players still dominate the market. According to the latest Twinkle100, AliExpress, Shein and Temu are not among the ten largest online retailers in the country. Far from it. Amazon has also taken a step back, in both turnover and ranking.
The Belgian government is considering introducing a levy on parcels imported from outside the European Union. The 2 euro fee per parcel would affect Chinese online retailers such as AliExpress, Shein and Temu. The government intends to use the revenue to help reduce the national budget deficit.
Ecommerce giant Amazon is launching its discount storefront, Amazon Haul, in Spain. The standalone store competes with large Asian platforms like AliExpress and Temu. The launch follows other launches earlier this year in the United Kingdom and Germany.
Amazon remains by far the largest online shop in Germany, ahead of local players Otto and Zalando. This is shown in a new top 1,000 ranking by retail institute EHI and ECDB. The combined revenue of the thousand top sellers was 3.8 percent higher last year compared to the year before. The top 10 grew the fastest. More growth is expected this year.