Amazon has added a new shipping option for merchants in its five largest European markets. Sellers shipping from China can benefit from fast delivery at no additional cost, according to Amazon. The solution will later be available for domestic shipments as well.
Shein and Temu together sell around 3.3 billion euros worth of products in Germany, according to the German Retail Federation (HDE). One in five German consumers plans to make purchases from the Chinese platforms in the run-up to Christmas. “That is somewhat of a paradox”, says HDE director Stefan Genth.
Amazon may have to compensate German customers for the higher Prime subscription fees it unilaterally introduced three years ago. A regional consumer protection authority, which filed the lawsuit, wants Amazon to reverse the price increase and refund the difference to its customers.
Paypal has increased its stake in German ecommerce software company Shopware. The online payment system now has a stake in the company of around 41 percent. The move can strengthen PayPal’s position in European ecommerce.
Amazon’s selling partners can no longer use a default handling time of two days. The company has automatically halved the timeframe, to the surprise of many sellers. From now on, they must manually set longer handling times in Seller Central, on a per-item basis.
Around 50 percent of online shoppers in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom have shopped at Temu or Shein this year. Compared to a year ago, the amount of shoppers using those platforms has not changed much. It seems that Temu’s and Shein’s growth in Europe has slowed down.
On average, online sellers are active on six different marketplaces. As 63 percent of consumers prefer marketplaces over brand sites, sellers need to make sure that their products are present there. However, selling on marketplaces comes with its own challenges as well.
Amazon remains by far the largest online shop in Germany, ahead of local players Otto and Zalando. This is shown in a new top 1,000 ranking by retail institute EHI and ECDB. The combined revenue of the thousand top sellers was 3.8 percent higher last year compared to the year before. The top 10 grew the fastest. More growth is expected this year.
Only 14.77 of online shoppers return to an online store to place a second order. And even fewer customers become regular customers. Sellers should implement more well-timed measures to engage repeat customers, according to a recent study from Uptain.
From February through July, Shein served an average of 145.7 million European shoppers per month. That is over 15.2 million more than in the previous six months. The Chinese online fashion platform is more popular in the European Union than Temu, although its growth is slightly less steep.
In the first half of this year, Temu attracted an average of 115.7 million Europeans to its platform each month. That’s 12.9 million more than in the second half of last year. Remarkably, the growth in Temu’s top European markets was above average.
Amazon has informed its fulfillment service users in the United Kingdom and Germany that they can expect an additional holiday season fee. The surcharge applies from mid-October to mid-January and is intended to ensure that delivery speed, fulfillment capacity, and customer service remain at a high level.
The Platform Group (TPG), the German company behind several vertical marketplaces, has significantly increased its trading volume, revenue, and profit in the first half of this year. The number of active customers and sales partners also grew strongly. By the end of this year, the group expects to have 16,500 partners, partly due to new acquisitions.
Following the United Kingdom, JD.com's Joybuy has launched in France. Other countries will follow soon, according to a statement from Ochama, which will be rebranded as Joybuy. “Ochama will officially cease operations on 23 August 2025.” This has negative consequences for shoppers in 19 countries.
Fulfilled by TikTok (FBT) is now available in Germany. Sellers on TikTok Shop have the option to outsource storage and order processing for nationwide next-day delivery. TikTok has partnered with logistics provider Fiege to make that possible.