Germany

BigCommerce has announced that it will expand its presence into Germany, Spain and Mexico. The news follows the company's launch into France, Italy and the Netherlands six months ago. Retailers in these locations will now be able to integrate locally preferred payment methods in their online store.

German ecommerce has gone through a strong growth in 2021. Gross sales of ecommerce products amounted to 99.1 billion euros, which is a growth of 19 percent compared to 2020. Almost every seventh euro available to German consumers for household expenses was spent on products online.

PayPal is expanding its 'Pay later' offer in Germany. This week, it has announced the launch of its new payment option 'Payment after 30 days'. Customers can select the new option for purchases up to 1.000 euros and pay for it after 30 days without additional costs.

Parcel delivery service Instabox will enter Germany in early 2022. It's the Swedish company's latest expansion across Europe. The company is active in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and now also 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.