DHL Supply Chain has acquired a majority stake in Monta, a Dutch fulfillment provider. The deal gives Monta a chance to accelerate its international expansion. On the other hand, it enables DHL to better respond to the needs of SMEs and smaller online stores.

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.

Ecommerce software startup Instant Commerce has raised 5.4 million euros in seed capital. The Amsterdam-based company will use the money to expand in Europe and the United States. Instant Commerce has raised 7.5 million euros to date.

Ecommerce giant Amazon is not opening new logistics warehouses in Spain until 2024. The company was planning to build on land of around 150,000 square meters in the country, but is now pausing those plans. The pause is caused by inflation and drop in consumer demand.

Belgian software startup Garvis has raised 3.5 million euros. The company uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to predict stock levels. Garvis will use the funds to develop its platform and accelerate international expansion.

Swedish parcel delivery services Instabox and Budbee are announcing a merger. Together, they will continue under a new holding: Instabee. The new company is valued at 1.7 billion euros.

Slovenian startup CartBoss, which offers automated abandoned cart text messages to online stores, is now installed in over 4,000 online shops. The company is a year and a half old, but already has over 500 customers. With new features coming out this year, it expects to continue growing its customer base.

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.

Leading ecommerce platform Shopify is launching Translate & Adapt. The tool, which works with Shopify Markets, offers localisation for merchants looking to expand to new markets. The new application is available worldwide as of this week.

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.

Over half of online shoppers are prepared to wait longer for a parcel if it is from a sustainable shop. Still, only 1 in 5 customers are prepared to pay extra for eco-friendly delivery. Consumers are most worried about the environment when shopping for groceries and fashion.

Online B2B transactions in Poland are estimated to be worth 130 billion euros in 2021. This is an average year on year growth of 8.4 percent, when compared to the total market value in 2016 of 555.3 billion euros. Between 2016 and 2021, the market has grown 41.8 percent.

The Dutch National Hotline for Internet Scams is warning consumers about new fake online stores, claiming to sell firewood and wood burning stoves. With energy prices rising all across Europe, the department expects more of these online shopping scams.

Ecommerce giant Amazon has acquired Belgian mechatronics specialist Cloostermans. It is unclear what amount was involved in the deal. Amazon will scale up its robotics operations with Cloostermans’ technology.

Last year, one out of four packages were returned in Germany. This comes to an estimate of 530 million parcels, with 1.3 billion items. Returning goods is part of consumer protection. On the other hand, the amount of returns brings high costs for sellers, as well as a large carbon footprint.