Austria

Return rates of online orders are an issue for many sellers. In the online fashion sector in the DACH countries, 87.7 percent of sellers report return rates of up to 50 percent. Around 80 percent of online sellers in the region do not expect that return rates will improve in the next three years.

Temu has recently entered into a large number of partnerships with logistics service providers for the delivery of products across Europe. This week, deals with the United Kingdom’s Royal Mail and Belgium’s bpost were announced.

Refurbed, the marketplace for refurbished electronics, household, and sports products, has raised 50 million euros for further European expansion. The fast-growing and profitable company seems to be preparing for an entry into the United Kingdom.

One year after launching its marketplace in Poland and Austria, Kaufland has already achieved strong growth. It now has a total of 3,000 online sellers that have joined in Poland. In Austria, it has even more sellers, with a total of 5,000 sellers.

Compared to other German-speaking countries, Swiss consumers shop online less frequently. Just 18 percent of them shop online at least once a week. In Germany, for example, that share comes to 28 percent.

Smaller online businesses in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland are not benefiting from the restored growth in online spending. On the contrary, their revenue is decreasing. “It is becoming increasingly difficult for smaller online stores to maintain their position in the market.”

The three largest marketplaces in Austria account for 52 percent of the total online spending in the country. Amazon stands head and shoulders above the rest, with a 41 percent share of the total. Zalando and eBay follow, while Chinese platforms are gaining ground.

Austrian online retailers are facing increasing competition from international online stores, particularly those from Asia. One in three orders is now placed with platforms from that continent. The Chamber of Commerce is calling for concrete measures against platforms such as Shein and Temu.

Shopify now supports payouts in multiple currencies for European merchants. For many larger online retailers, this eliminates a key reason to operate multiple stores simultaneously or opt for alternative ecommerce software.

Parcel volumes in Austria are growing significantly. However, the majority of packages, around 80 percent of the total, come from abroad. Amazon accounts for a large share of this parcel surge, and the influence of Chinese platforms is increasing. Local online retailers are losing out.

Kaufland has opened the virtual doors of its marketplace in Austria, the first country where the brand does not have physical stores. At the launch, Kaufland.at offers more than three million items from three thousand different sellers.

Online spending in Austria has grown by 5 percent in one year, reaching 10.6 billion euros. More than half of the expenditures are made in foreign webshops. "Dramatic”, says the Austrian Handelsverband.

Austrian online marketplace Shöpping is launching in Germany at the end of this year. By doing so, Austrian sellers will be able to reach a larger audience. At the same time, the marketplace will continue adding more retailers from the European Union to the platform.

Kaufland, one of the larger ecommerce platforms in Germany, is expanding to Poland and Austria this coming late summer. Schwarz Gruppe, the owner of Kaufland and supermarket chain Lidl, has more online plans: it is allocating 200 million for Lidl's ecommerce activities.

Pineca has launched an Austrian online store. This is the fourth new market that the online supplier of prefabricated wooden buildings has targeted in the last 14 months. The company now operates in nine European countries in total.