Europe

Fashion retailer Zara is planning to expand its pre-owned clothing marketplace Zara Pre-Owned across European markets in the second half of this year. One of the selected markets is the Netherlands. The platform is currently available in the United Kingdom.

The European Commission is planning to impose import duties on goods up to 150 euros, which are currently exempted. Brussels has previously abolished VAT exemptions. These measures strengthen the position of traders within the Union.

Bol.com, the leading marketplace in the Netherlands and Belgium, had a gross merchandise volume of 1.3 billion euros in Q1. As much as 65 percent comes from third party merchants on the platform. Bol.com currently has 52,000 partners.

Amazon fills the top two spots in a new list of leading marketplaces in Europe. The ranking is made by the German Bundesverband Onlinehandel (BVOH). The interest group also made a separate top 50 for Germany. That is also led by Amazon.

The Otto Group is partnering with Covariant, a company specializing in AI-driven warehouse robots. With the partnership, Otto wants to automate its fulfilment activities and increase its operational efficiency. Otto's German fulfilment locations will be robotized first.

Dutch payment service iDeal has been acquired by the European Payments Initiative (EPI), a collaboration of European banks. Payconiq, technology provider of iDeal and Belgian payment platform Bancontact, has also been taken over. iDeal is to form the basis of a Europe-wide payment system, according to EPI.

Ecommerce giant Amazon is planning to expand its b2b division, Amazon Business, in Europe. It is unclear which countries it will target. The company is currently investing in its logistics, to supply European businesses with office supplies in bulk.

Ecommerce giant Amazon has launched a new offering called the European Expansion Accelerator (EEA). With the new feature, sellers can easily expand to nine Amazon marketplaces across Europe and the United Kingdom.

Ecommerce aggregator Razor Group has taken over German competitor Stryze Group, another acquisition company. The deal was made with shares only. In addition, Razor Group has raised 80 million euros of funding.

During a plenary session, the European Parliament approved revised rules on product safety of non-food consumer products. According to the new rules, products from outside the EU can be sold on the market if an economic operator in the EU is responsible for its safety.

Cross-border ecommerce in Europe was worth 179.4 billion euros in 2022. This is an increase of 4.8 percent compared to a year earlier. In total, European online stores achieved a record-high turnover of 105.5 billion euros across borders, a 5.5 percent increase compared to 2021.

Ecommerce giant Zalando is streamlining its range. As a result, it will remove products of brands on June 30. After that, the brand will be completely deleted from the platform’s data.

Amazon increased the costs of its multi-channel fulfilment service. The new fees will be in effect for European sellers starting next month. According to the ecommerce giant, the increase is due to rising operational costs due to inflation.

From now on, fashion e-tailer About You only offers free shipping with a minimum order amount of 30 euros. Customers with smaller orders will have to pay 4,90 euros delivery costs. The new fees are already in effect in Germany, but will eventually be introduced in all markets.

Fashion marketplace Saclàb has raised 1.6 million euros in seed funding. The company wants to use the capital for product development as well as HR and marketing activities. The platform is also planning a launch in the United States.