Germany

Uber Eats will launch in Germany over the next few weeks. It will be the US company's biggest entry to a new country since 2018. By launching in Germany, Uber Eats wants to challenge Just Eat Takeaway.

Almost eight in ten Amazon merchants in Germany don't see the marketplace as a partner. But they also generate an average of 51.2 percent of their turnover through Amazon. German ecommerce association BVOH calls on Amazon to reform its relationship with merchants.

Seven Senders, a German delivery platform for parcel shipping, has concluded a Series C financing round of 40 million dollars (33 million euros). The company wants to use the money to further support Chinese and US online retailers with their business activities in Europe.

Grover, a German subscription service for consumer electronics, has raised 60 million euros in an oversubscribed Series B Round. The company wants to use the money to accelerate international expansion.

Amazon is also jumping on the local train. In an effort to offer a more regional shopping experience, Amazon has launched a separate website section where small and medium-sized businesses from Germany and Austria can present their goods on Amazon.

For the first time, ecommerce in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (also known as the DACH region) reached a consolidated volume of more than 100 billion euros. The German-speaking ecommerce markets are now generating more sales than any other language area in Europe.

29 percent of German ecommerce sales are generated by small businesses with fewer than 10 employees. Compared to the situation in the entire German economy, small ecommerce enterprises are much more important for the total turnover in their sector.

Gorillas, a delivery startup from Germany, has launched its services in London. The company offers a full range of groceries from its own distribution hubs within 10 minutes. The UK is the third market in Europe where Gorillas is active.

Deutsche Post DHL Group saw its revenue increase by 5.5 percent to 66.8 billion euros in 2020. This growth was primarily driven by the global ecommerce boom. The pandemic measures worldwide led to higher parcel volumes.

Berlin Brands Group, which acquires ecommerce brands and Amazon retailers, has had a good year. In 2020, the group's sales increased by 54 percent to 400 million dollars, which corresponds to 335 million euros. Its profit was in the "mid-double-digit million range".

Dutch wholesale marketplace Orderchamp has announced its expansion to Germany. It's the fifth market where the B2B platform officially has a presence. It's also active in the Benelux and France. After a soft-launch, Orderchamp will now open an office in Germany to further penetrate this market.

Next month, Kaufland will officially enter the world of ecommerce. For the first time, the German hypermarket chain will be visible as a new operator on the previous online marketplace of Real, the company it acquired in June last year.

Thrasio, a company that acquires Amazon FBA brands and then scales them, will expand its recent 200 million euros commitment to 500 million euros. It will use this money to acquire ecommerce businesses in Germany and further expand its growth across Europe.

Aldi seems to prepare for a better ecommerce strategy. Aldi Süd is gradually rolling outs its globally uniform IT system across its shop network across 20 countries. The discounter is laying the groundwork for ecommerce.

Picnic has shown strong growth in 2020 and is busy with the expansion to France. Sources say that last year, the Dutch online supermarket had managed to double its revenue, which is now predicted to be worth almost half a billion euros.