🌀9 marketplace startups to watch. What do they have in common?

🛒 Mass merchant marketplaces

• 🌎 Amazon adds a new fee for members of its Seller Fulfilled Prime program, where merchants ship their own packages but can include the Prime badge on their listing. Since Oct. 1 they will need to pay 2% fee on each sale. The move is guaranteed to invite scrutiny from the FTC as it prepares its antitrust case against Amazon. Deep dive → CNBC | Insider Intelligence

• 🌎 Amazon extend Sponsored Product Ads to appear on 3^rd party premium website and apps (Pinterest, BuzzFeed, Hearst Newspapers, Raptive, and Ziff Davis brands like Lifehacker and Mashable). Sponsored Products ads show up when Amazon thinks a customer is likely to be interested in a product, items are in-stock and they include trusted Amazon shopping attributes (Prime delivery promise, ratings, and accurate pricing). Deep dive →  Amazon

• 🇺🇸 Walmart upgraded “Pro Seller Badge” certification standards. Pro Seller Badge highlights and rewards top-performing sellers on the marketplace. For merchants to be eligible for this badge, Walmart had to among others change requirements on the on-time delivery rate from 90%+ to 95%+ and cancellation rate from <2% to <1.5%. Deep dive →  Apparel Resources | Walmart

• 🌎 eBay Ads in Q2 grew by 35% YoY. The growth is driven by new ad type (display ads push buyers to store pages rather than specific listings), improved measurement (halo attribution, where the company takes credit for ads that drive the purchase of a seller’s promoted items, even if it’s not the item a user clicked), and expanded third-party ads (eBay Ads are placed on Google and expanding to Bing). Deep dive → Insider Intelligence

• 🇪🇺 Miravia eyes European expansion with CommerceHub. Miravia describes itself as both a marketplace and an entertainment space, as it wants to become what it describes as an "everyday e-commerce ecosystem" where brands, buyers, and creators can connect. Deep dive → Just Style

👗 Fashion marketplaces

• 🌎 Shein secret sauce that predicts the next hot trend has nothing to do with AI. Shein uses audience-engagement technology to identify trends and determine demand, similar to TikTok or Instagram. If some customer journey has occurred several times, the system projects a level of demand for a particular product. Shein produces a limited (100–200 units) run of that product to test the demand. Deep dive → Business insider

• 🌎 Farfetch shares plunge as weak demand in US, China slams 2023 outlook. Shares of Farfetch (FTCH.N) slumped nearly 40% to a record low on Friday due to underperformance in the top two markets, the United States and China. The company slashed its full-year forecast to $4.4B from $4.9B GMV. Deep dive → Reuters

• 🇮🇳 Flipkart launches the Gen Z fashion app-in-app “SPOYL”. The launch is designed to enable Flipkart to acquire and connect with new customers and revolutionize the way they interact with their personal style. Spoyl has more than 40,000 fashion products, including Western wear, accessories, and footwear, in a diverse collection of designs. Deep dive → CNBCTV18

• 🇩🇰 Vinted to expand to Denmark in early September. Polish users will be able to access the local platform and conduct transactions with Danish users. Deep dive → DlaHandlu

• 🇩🇪 Zalando could face fierce competition in its home market from Shein. The Chinese online retailer Shein is increasingly targeting the German market. Shein has 15 employees in Berlin to conduct market research for the local market and rent shops. The online retailer wants to expand its range, offer European brands, and expand its presence in Germany. So far Shein has been ramping up presence online and opened a pop-up store at Oktoberfest in Munich in 2023. Deep dive → Nordbayern

🍔 Food marketplaces

• 🇺🇸 DoorDash and Uber Eats had good quarters, while Instacart deliveries stalled (3% yoy in orders in Q1). In order to stay competitive, Instacart is forming partnerships with companies like Roku, which enables advertisers to use Instacart data to see if consumers bought a product after seeing an ad for it on TV. Uber Eats wants the best of both worlds with reasonable, successful Q2 and an expanding advertising business. Deep dive → Insider Intelligence | Roku

• 🇺🇸 Instacart is reportedly planning an IPO in September. Instacart has been one of the most highly anticipated IPOs for years. Last year, it confidentially filed for its public debut but delayed the offering in the last October, reportedly citing poor market conditions. Deep dive → MorningStar

• 🇬🇧 Deliveroo to let customers mix groceries and takeout orders. The feature, which is to be made available to customers across the UK following a trial phase in London. Deep dive → Yahoo

• 🇮🇳 Swiggy partners with Gogoro for the adoption of electric vehicles in last-mile delivery. In 2021, Swiggy announced its commitment to cover 800,000 kilometers every day through EV deliveries. Gogoro platform delivers a two-wheeler battery swapping system that enables delivery operators to manage their fleets and deliveries more efficiently and sustainably. Deep dive → Business Today

• 🇵🇱 Wolt to deliver supplements from Polish brand for active people SFD such as protein supplements, vitamins, dietary food, and training accessories. Customers in Poland can order delivery to their home, gym, or sports facility in less than an hour after placing the order. Deep dive → Newseria

📦Various marketplaces

• 🌎 Newegg introduced ChatGPT-powered review summaries. AI also generates a list of pros and cons based on user reviews. Deep dive → TheVerge | ZDnet

• 🌎 Trivago and HotelRunner join forces. For Trivago, this means tapping into HotelRunner's extensive network of 60K+ properties, which in turn, extends its metasearch offerings, providing seamless connectivity for its users. Deep dive → Hospitalitynet

• 🇭🇺 Booking.com to be probed by Hungary's competition office over its debts owed to Hungarian tourism accommodation operators. Local authorities claim it accumulated "several billion forints of debts (= dozen million euro)" and "abuses their scale and dominant market position". Deep dive → bbj

🌟Funding/new marketplaces

• 🇩🇪 Hawesko to launch a curated wine marketplace in 2024. With the additional marketplace, in the first step, the wine retailer wants to offer a one-stop-shop experience for premium wine purchases, and in the second step, it will expand the range to include other wine-related and indulgence-related products. Deep dive →  NeuHandeln

• 🇺🇸 Offsite launches Airbnb for team retreats to reconnect remote and hybrid companies Offsite's curated marketplace features over 250 hotels that are perfect for offsites. On average, Offsite's clients save 20% on room blocks through offsite.com and also receive discounts on meeting space, AV, food and beverage, resort fees, and more. Deep dive →  PR news wire