Germany

German online fashion platform BestSecret is planning an initial public offering in the summer of 2022. The company could be valued at more than three billion euros. BestSecret wants to use the raised funds to expand internationally.

Ecosistant, a consultancy startup for recycling compliance from Germany, offers extra guidance for online fashion retailers. The service is a response to new recycling laws from the European Union (EU). In addition to packaging and electronics, the company now advises on textile waste as well.

About You, the German fashion retailer, has released its second quarter results. The company shows a year-on-year growth of over 50 percent. This is mainly thanks to their B2B services, as their fashion branch suffers millions in loss.

Marketplaces are now a starting point in 44 percent of all product searches. This is more than twice the number of searches in search engines. Brand loyalty seems to be less important to consumers, as marketplaces are almost 5 times more likely to be a starting point to research products than a brand's own website.

About You, the fashion platform from Germany, is now active in Greece and Portugal. The company continues its Southern European expansion, after launching in Italy only last month. The retailer now operates in 26 European markets.

Ceconomy, the German mother company of electronic stores such as Mediamarkt, made one third of its profit from online sales in 2020. Their online revenue increased more than half in the last year. The numbers are clearly a result of coronavirus-related measures.

Online fashion giant Zalando has launched a Care & Repair program, starting with pilots in Germany as of this month. There are plans to launch the program in other European markets as well. Sweden and Poland are possible prospects, since customers from these countries wear repaired clothes most often, Zalando's new survey finds.

Popular German online pet supply store Zooplus will soon have a new owner. Private-equity firm Hellman & Friedman and Swedish investor EQT are joining together to take over Zooplus. Zooplus is now valued at 3.4 billion euros.

In Germany, ecommerce is becoming more and more defined by marketplaces. Amazon, specifically, is the top player in German ecommerce. Its revenue is at least three times higher than Otto, who is the second largest player in the country.

Italian marketplace Everli announced that it will expand into Germany and Romania in early 2022. This news follows a period of rapid growth for the company. It is now operating in more than 80 cities across Italy, Poland, Czech Republic and France.

Galaxus, a major online department store from Switzerland, launches in Austria today. With a range of half a million products, it will start out as a wide-range store immediately. It wants to be one of the top 5 online retailers in Austria. The company is now active in Switzerland, Germany and Austria.

MediaMarkt is about to launch its new marketplace feature across Europe. The platform has already launched in beta stage in Germany, Austria and Spain. Next up on the list is the Netherland. After that, the marketplace will expand further across the Benelux.

Generally speaking, the third quarter is the quarter with the slowest growth in ecommerce. However, Germany has reached a significant growth of 14.8 percent, with total sales of 22.2 billion euros. This is the strongest growth in this third quarter in five years.

Consumers all over the world prefer to buy furniture and appliances offline, as is seen in the fact that only 14 percent of total revenues were generated via online sales in 2020. The German furniture market is very offline focused, yet Otto.de is the biggest online store with net sales of 1.5 billion euros.

Online-only supermarket Picnic has secured 600 million euros in growth capital. The leading investors were none other than Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his ex-wife Melinda. The Dutch company will use the funds to accelerate their expansion in Europe.