Europe

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.

Seventeen European trade organizations have recently published an open letter to the European Union to express their disapproval of a new withdrawal button. This button allows consumers to undo a transaction after placing an order. “This button exceeds its purpose”, said Marlene ten Ham of Dutch ecommerce association Thuiswinkel.org.

In the FT 1000-ranking of fastest-growing European companies, 95 are ecommerce businesses. The vast majority of these companies is from Germany, such as WLDOHO and KoRo. Italy (24) and France (12) are also well-represented.

Used cars retailer Autohero.com generated 1 billion euros in sales in 2022. That is an increase of over 80 percent compared to the year before. This is mostly due to raising prices of used cars following supply chain shortages.

Fashion retailer Yoox is adding a secondhand category on its marketplace. The pre-owned category is available in nearly 30 European countries. Later this year, the marketplace is planned to launch in the United States and Middle East as well.