🌀 Marketplace Sellers = AI Disbelievers 🤷‍♂️

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Wishing all our MarketMaze readers a joyful Easter filled with happiness and bright new beginnings! We hope you enjoy this issue after your Easter meal with your loved ones. 🐣

Packhelp based on surveyed 500 EU marketplace sellers prepared a comprehensive report to understand seller expectations, challenges, and needs towards marketplaces. Featuring real-life examples, expert insights, and exclusive data, this report provides a unique look into the marketplace ecosystem.

Selected Insights:

• 🛍️ Customer Reach: 40% of sellers leverage marketplace platforms to tap into new customer segments.

• 🚧 Operational Challenges: High commissions & payment delays pose key challenges for sellers to join marketplaces. 44% of sellers wary of commission rates and 43% is concerned about payment delays.

• 📈 Marketplace Strategy: Around 40% of sellers focus on selling exclusively on one marketplace.

For the full report, see this link. Where I want to point your attention in the report is Trend #1 namely “AI Usage Among Sellers”. Packhelp study reveals interesting sellers attitude towards AI.

A number of merchants are already utilizing or plan to utilize AI for various operations. Most Interesting AI Use Cases:

• 📝 Product Descriptions: 40% of sellers have experimented 

• 🌐 Translations: 33% tried, 15% implemented.

• 💲 Pricing: 30% tested, 11% implemented.

• 🎨 Asset Creation: 29% tried, 16% implemented.

What is surprising is how much AI Skeptics are among EU sellers:

• 🤔 Resistant Sellers: 25-30% of sellers remain skeptical about the need for AI, particularly in areas like inventory/offer management and pricing. Those don’t even want to try it out.

• 📉 Discontinued Use: 5-10% of sellers already tried AI among most popular use cases and report they will not use it going forward.

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As Amazon's Spring Sale concluded nearly a week ago, it's a great time to distill some strategic intentions and observed impacts.

🌍 Global Strategy

• The Spring Sale might be Amazon's tactic to counter competitive pressures from low-price, high-deal international platforms like Temu.

• The frequency of sales could also serve as a strategy for executives to amplify quarterly results, suggesting a correlation between event discounts and quarterly performance metrics.

🇺🇸 Impact in the U.S.

• A PYMNTS study reveals a 29% drop in engagement from Prime Day levels, yet a significant 28% of U.S. consumers participated, with a 25% conversion rate of non-Prime to Prime members.

• The data underscores a substantial marketing oversight, as 42% of potential participants were unaware of the sale, pointing to a need for improved promotional efforts.

🇪🇺 Impact in Europe

• In Europe, the Spring Sale led to notable market share gains, with increases ranging from +2% in the Netherlands to +8% in Ireland according to FoxIntelligence

• Despite facing challenges in the U.S., the event underscores Amazon's capacity to significantly influence its European market share, illustrating a strategic win in these regions.

▶🇪🇺 AliExpress gears up for UEFA Euro 2024. AliExpress is UEFA Euro 2024 first exclusive e-commerce partner. Kicking off on June 14 in Germany, it's a golden chance for merchants with a traffic surge and 2.7M fans anticipated.

▶🇺🇸 Walmart woos the wealthy with luxury goods. Walmart is upping its game by targeting the luxury market, revamping 800+ stores with upscale products and a modern look. The move includes high-end fashion and specialty foods, aimed at attracting consumers with deeper pockets.

▶🇪🇺 Apple, Meta, and Google under EU lens. Apple, Meta, and Google face EU scrutiny for possibly flouting the Digital Markets Act. With fines up to 10% of annual turnover looming, these tech giants could feel a pinch.

▶🇩🇪 Temu faces lawsuit over dodgy discounts. After a rapid rise in the EU market, Temu is under scrutiny for misleading discounts and manipulative designs, according to the Federation of German Consumer Organizations.

▶🇨🇳 Alibaba halts Cainiao's IPO, takes full control. Alibaba decided to scrap Cainiao's IPO, eyeing to acquire the remaining 36% for $3.75B, valuing Cainiao at $10.3B. Amid China's tech downturn, Alibaba bets big on logistics.

▶🇬🇧 Alibaba sees UK SMEs surge in digital sourcing. Alibaba's March Expo 2024 sees a notable uptick in UK SME buyers, with a keen interest in skincare and digital sourcing channels.

▶🇵🇱 Amazon fined $8M in Poland for misleading customers about product availability and the sales contract's conclusion, impacting shoppers' decisions and rights.

▶🇵🇱 Allegro Pay secures massive loan with Santander. Allegro Pay and Banco Santander ink a deal on consumer loans worth up to $697.2M, with an initial $232.4M available and an optional $464.8M.

▶🇬🇧 ASOS and Boohoo lead with green pledges. The U.K.'s CMA (The Competition and Markets Authority) has gotten ASOS, Boohoo, and George at Asda, raking in $5.55B yearly, to promise only true green claims.

▶🇸🇪 H&M Group boosts store investments in 2024. H&M Group's strategic shift includes opening 100 new stores while closing 160 in 2024, focusing on enhancing customer experience through physical store refurbishments in prime locations including NY & London.

▶🇺🇸 StockX snaps up Scout, reshaping resale. Scout is an inventory management solution. CEO Scott Cutler announces plans for enhanced customer experiences, including free Scout tech for top sellers.

▶🇺🇸 Amazon speeds up Rx delivery in NYC & LA. Amazon Pharmacy introduces same-day prescription deliveries in NY & Los Angeles, marking a significant expansion of its services, with plans to reach more cities by year's end.

▶🌍 ThredUp reshapes fashion with $197B sales. As the cost of living soars, the allure of secondhand fashion becomes undeniable, with ThredUp leading the charge to a staggering $197B in sales. With a predicted rise to $350B by 2028, even older generations are joining the trend.

▶🇫🇷 Vinted's sales in France leap by 32% last year, claiming 9% of the fashion market and 60% of second-hand sales.

▶🌎 Fast fashion swamps thrift stores' quality. The allure of thrift shopping is waning as fast fashion invades, diluting the quality of finds. Experts point to a booming resale market and the fast fashion influx, making quality secondhand pieces rare treasures.

▶🇬🇧 Getir teams up with Too Good To Go in the UK, offering 'Surprise Bags' worth £16-£18 for just £5.50 to fight food waste.

▶🇺🇸 Instacart launches game-changing API. Instacart's new Developer Platform offers a public API, enabling apps like WeightWatchers and NYT Cooking to offer seamless grocery shopping experiences.

▶🇮🇳 Swiggy's IPO dreams hit by $200M loss. Despite aspirations for a stock market debut, Swiggy grapples with a $200M loss and a hefty $500M loss for the fiscal year 2022-23. The food giant, valued at $10.7B, eyes recovery by cutting costs.

▶🇰🇷 Coupang Eats switches to free delivery model. Coupang Eats revamps its WOW membership to include free delivery, eliminating cost hurdles and potentially doubling order volumes, as CEO Bom Kim reports a significant rise in subscriptions.

▶🇺🇸 DoorDash boosts local restaurants with grants. DoorDash opens its Accelerator for Local Restaurants program to foodservice operators in D.C. and Minneapolis, offering tailored programming, partnerships, and a $5,000 grant to foster community connection and revenue growth.

▶🇷🇴 Glovo's green shift with e-Mobility hits 62 EVs. Following a successful pilot, Glovo & e-Mobility Rentals up their eco-game in Bucharest. Their EV fleet now boasts 62 units, slashing CO2 emissions and speeding up deliveries.

▶🇬🇭 Bolt Business spices up office snacks in Ghana. With the launch of Bolt Food for Business, Ghanaian companies can now order meals and snacks through the Bolt app, streamlining office food logistics.

▶🇺🇸 Bolt & Checkout.com join forces for speedy checkout. Checkout.com will now power Bolt's one-click checkout, promising a seamless shopping experience for 80M+ US shoppers.

▶🇺🇸 Amazon invests another $2.75bn in Anthropic. With an additional $2.75bn, Amazon's investment in AI startup Anthropic reaches $4bn. This move signals Amazon's commitment to leading in the generative AI space.

▶🇺🇸 Airbnb shakes up B2B with SaaS venture. Airbnb's entry into the SaaS market could revolutionize property management, making the connection process for rentals significantly more efficient.

▶🇬🇧 Wilko partners with easyToolhire for rentals. From gardening to painting, it delivers directly to you, plus a 15% discount for first-timers in March 2024.

▶🇺🇸 Shopify plugins leak rattles e-commerce. Shopify's plugin developer Saara exposed sensitive shopper data from over 1.8K stores, with 7.6M orders leaked since February 21st. Despite the leak, Saara's CEO claims the data was secure.

▶🇺🇦 Claspo & Shopify join forces for easy widgets. Claspo's integration with Shopify is set to transform e-commerce with its widget platform, making widget creation a breeze for merchants. With 700+ templates, Claspo enhances user experience and sales globally.

▶🇺🇸 CIRRO streamlines e-commerce with Shopify. On March 19, 2024, CIRRO Fulfillment announced its integration with Shopify, enhancing logistics for e-commerce businesses.

▶🇸🇬 TikTok enhances shopping in Singapore. With the introduction of TikTok Shop Mall in Singapore, consumers are guaranteed a premium shopping experience, complete with 100% authentic products and top-notch customer service.

▶🇺🇸 Pandion raises $41.5M to scale deliveries. Pandion, initiated by Amazon Air's founder, secures a hefty $41.5M in Series B, aiming for a significant scale-up. With experts from Amazon to FedEx on board, it's set to disrupt e-commerce delivery.

▶🇺🇸 Kidsy slashes kids' gear prices, lands $1M funding. Kidsy, a Chicago-based e-commerce venture, has been on a roll since its beta phase ended in September 2023, swiftly hitting $1M in annualized revenue by January 2024. Founders Shraysi Tandon and Sinan Sari, leveraging their backgrounds, secured an oversubscribed $1M in pre-seed funding, showcasing a promising journey ahead.

▶🇸🇪 Dema secures €7M to boost e-commerce AI. Stockholm's Dema.ai, with its innovative predictive analytics for e-commerce, announces a €7M seed funding led by J12 Ventures and Daphni.

▶🇺🇿 Uzum turns Uzbekistan’s first unicorn at $1.16B. Uzum, Uzbekistan's first unicorn, rakes in $114M funding, reaching a $1.16B valuation. Offering shopping, fintech, and food deliveries, it challenges traditional retail with 8M monthly users and 600K+ SKUs.

That’s all. See you next week in the 🌀Maze!

Your guide through the maze

Artur Stańczuk Chief Strategy Officer at Packhelp, the leading European packaging marketplace. Previously worked ~8 yrs at Bain & Co. In the past, Digital Transformation Director at the leading Polish convenience chain Żabka and Entrepreneur that co-launched 3 startups