🌀 Amazon Supply Chain could become the new AWS. How it actually works?

🛒 Mass merchant marketplaces

• 🌎 Amazon introduces a generative AI tool for sellers, aiding them in crafting product titles and listings by generating content based on provided keywords or sentences. Deep dive → Amazon | CNBC | Zdnet

• 🇺🇸 AliExpress in partnership with Splitit to offer “pay after delivery“ service. This follows a successful rollout in countries such as Germany, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, the U.K. and Australia. Deep dive → Thepaypers

• 🇪🇺 Amazon launches the Sustainability Solutions Hub to help sellers with their product and packaging sustainability efforts by providing them a dashboard to track data and progress with Amazon’s sustainability programs (Climate Pledge Friendly, Amazon Renewed and Ships in Product Packaging). Deep dive → Recycling Today

• 🇨🇳 Alibaba opens its AI model to the public. AI model, with capabilities similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT, was primarily available for enterprise testing. However, Alibaba has now gained regulatory approval to release Tongyi Qianwen to the public. Deep dive → Reuters | Techloy

• 🇵🇱 Empik partnered with Octopia to boost its international expansion. Octopia is a full marketplace ecosystem with services ranged from building marketplace, recruiting sellers, connecting with other marketplaces and logistics optimization. Deep dive → Octopia Linkedin

👗 Fashion marketplaces

• 🌎 eBay introduces new consignment service for luxury items. The new service provides customers with direct access to sellers who will list and sell their luxury items on their behalf. The service will initially only be available for designer handbags, with plans to expand it to jewellery and watches next year. eBay offers luxury consignment service in a direct challenge to The RealReal, thredUP. Deep dive → Retail Insights network | Insider Intelligence

• 🌎 Shein commits $85M to sustainability initiatives over five years to empower Shein's manufacturing supplier community and designers as well as women, young people and the underprivileged. Deep dive → ChinaDaily

• 🇪🇺 Zalando introduced new content platform/ digital magazine, Stories where customers can access curated content in a visual and video format. The launch of Stories builds on Zalando’s partnership with Highsnobiety, which Zalando acquired a majority stake last year. Deep dive → FashionUnited | RetailGazette

• 🇬🇧 Depop transitions fully to its own payment method called Depop Payments. Within few weeks it will axe PayPal as a payment method on its app. Deep dive → TheSun

🍔 Food marketplaces

• 🇺🇸 Uber Eats adds new grocers as it wants to compete with Instacart. Uber Eats will serve more than 190 Save Mart, Lucky and FoodMaxx stores as well as all 161 of The Fresh Market’s locations. Deep dive → PYMNTS | GroceryDive

• 🇺🇸 Instacart raises IPO price range to USD 10B after robust Arm (Softbank’s chip designer) debut. The company's raised valuation target, however, would still be just one-fourth of the $39 billion it was worth after its last funding round more than two years ago. Deep dive → Reuters | TechCrunch

• 🇬🇧 Deliveroo prepares defense strategies after Sachem Head buys a stake in the company. Sachem Head sees Deliveroo as undervalued, though it isn’t yet actively pushing for changes. Governance change that will weaken the control of its founder. Activist investor Sachem Head Capital Management believes Deliveroo could become a takeover target. Deep dive → Reuters | BNN Bloomberg

• 🇬🇧 Amazon launches first fresh store through Deliveroo app. Offering consists of 1,000+ items ready for delivery from its Amazon Fresh store in Hoxton. Amazon took 16% stake in Deliveroo in 2019. Deep dive → RetailGazette

• 🇬🇧 Just Eat for Business trials carbon labelling on dishes provided by 12 of its restaurant partners in London, in a bid to nudge people towards more sustainable diets. Deep dive → Edie | CraftGuildofChefs

• 🇮🇳 Swiggy launches ‘Learning Station’ to help partner restaurants grow their business. Integrated into the Swiggy Partner app, Learning Station offers content curated to meet the specific learning needs of restaurant partners. The learning module covers topics such as refining menus to match changing preferences of customers, making effective advertising strategies, among others. Deep dive → Inc42

📦Various marketplaces

• 🇬🇧 Boots has shelved plans to launch its own separate marketplace. The UK’s largest health and beauty retailer had previously announced it would be launching a marketplace in spring 2023. Deep dive → Retail Week

• 🇬🇧 Shop Circle (E-Commerce software aggregator) secures $120M. he startup will use the capital injection to expand its suite of products. It wants to become a one-stop shop software provider for online sellers. Deep dive → Shop Circle | Forbes

• 🇳🇴 Schibsted (Norway-based marketplace operator) acquires 10% stake in ViaPlay. Viaplay's strong position as a streaming provider in the Nordics fits with Schibsted media operations. Schibsted believes it can support value creation in the company. Deep dive → Schibsted | Reuters

🌟Funding/new marketplaces

• 🇺🇸 PredictionStrike (Athlete Investing Marketplace) raises $10 Million Series A Round. PredictionStrike offers virtual share prices for players in the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball as well as fighters in the UFC based on an algorithm the company has created that incorporates how players perform in games as well as user demand. Deep dive → Forbes

• 🇬🇧 Syky launches marketplace for buying and trading digital (and physical) fashion. Timed to London Fashion Week, the first available pieces will be a small collection of items from emerging designer Fanrui Sun, sold as NFTs under her label Sunw. Deep dive → Vogue business

•  🇳🇱 Whoppah (secondhand furniture and art marketplace) raises $5.0M in oversubscribed capital. The platform brings together (and checks before publishing) items from consumers and professional sellers in Europe. Company now has approx. 1K sellers and 1M+ of users. The funds will be used to achieve profitability next year. Deep dive → Silicon Canals