🌀Temu pushes into EU. Can Asian marketplaces win the market?

🛒Mass merchant marketplaces

• Amazon on target of FTC (The Federal Trade Commission). It has been sued by FTC for tricking consumers into signing up for its Prime subscription service through deceptive user interface designs. Last month, Amazon agreed to pay more than $30 million to settle two FTC privacy complaints surrounding its Alexa and Ring products. Deep dive → CNN

• Amazon to reopen Seller Fulfilled Prime enrollment after an extended pause. The program allows sellers independently handle fulfillment while still offering one-day and two-day delivery speeds for Prime customers. Requirements for Seller Fulfilled Prime include shipping more than 99% of orders on time, having nationwide delivery coverage for all standard-size products, and weekend pickup and delivery. Deep dive → SupplyChainDive

• Amazon has launched a flexible financing solution in the UK for small and medium-sized businesses based on a partnership with YouLend. Amazon sellers in the country can apply for a cash advance, which will be repaid based on their sales. Loans can range up to two million euros. Deep dive →  Amazon

• Olx cuts further 800 jobs as it shuts down OLX Autos business. The new job cuts notably come just months after Olx confirmed plans to decrease its global workforce by 15% (1,500 jobs) in January. Deep dive → TechCrunch

• Facebook Marketplace tops the list of most complained-about online retail platforms in a recent UK study. Over half (53%) of Trading Standards Officers rated Facebook marketplace as the most-complained marketplace – more than all the others combined. Deep dive → Herald Wales

• Walmart rolls out inventory service for third-party sellers on the marketplace. Inventory Transfer Services gives sellers the option to send goods to one centralized location and offer two-day to same-day shipping. Deep dive → Retaildrive

👗Fashion marketplaces

• Vinted reported a 51% increase in revenue to €371 million in 2022; plans to enter Denmark and Finland. In the UK, Vinted increased presence by 680% in the last 18 months (Brand Dimensions study) reaching 1M cashless transactions in April (similar level as Primark). Deep dive → AimGroup | Bdaily

• Zalando to promote local Polish brands on its platform in Western Europe and in Poland. Among 100 Polish brands on Zalando, Kazar is is currently the best-selling one with sales across 22 foreign markets. Deep dive → Biznes Polska

• SHEIN partners with Queen Of Raw to rescue the fashion industry’s deadstock. Shein to utilize Materia MX software to source existing materials from brands and retailers looking to responsibly clear out their excess fabric inventory. Deep dive → Forbes | Just Style 

• SHEIN launches "AcceleraSHEIN" to support its new marketplace sellers. Program consist of training and upskilling, seller benefits and incentives to help achieve annual sales of USD 100K within 3 years. Deep dive → PRnewswire

• Lyst, a global fashion shopping app, reshuffled its senior management team. Founder, Chris Morton moves to an executive chairman role to be replaced by Emma McFerran (Current COO). Deep dive → Standard

• StockX revamps its seller program (the take rate for first-time sellers is 9%, the lowest is 5%) and invests in fighting fakes on its marsketplace. StockX opened 3 authentication centers in the 12 months, physically inspecting 12 million products and rejecting $90 million worth of products (incl. $30 million suspected for fakes). Deep dive → Yahoo | Complex

🍔Food marketplaces

• Bolt signed a partnership with Starship Technologies aiming to have thousands of robots delivering food across multiple countries, starting this year. Starship has a fleet of more than 2K robots in Estonia, the UK and U.S. News comes few weeks after Uber Eats signed with Serve robotics. Deep dive →Reuters | Bolt | TechCrunch

• Getir plans to exit France amid regulatory issues. Since March, dark stores are considered as warehouses — not stores and so local governments can decide whether they allow warehouses in city centers or not. Deep dive → Techcrunch

• Foodpanda to offer loans to its merchants in partnership with SB Finance. Loan amount ranges from apprx. USD 500 to USD 35K. Deep dive → Daily Tribune

• Wolt continues growth in Georgia, enters new cities and plans to offer a wider assortment of products to its customers by increasing the number of partner merchants in the app. Deep dive → Finchannel

• Glovo signed a partnership agreement in Italy with Coca-Cola HBC in Glovo Brands Ads. Glovo Brands Ads allow CPG brands to manage in-app and off-app advertising campaigns and to connect with consumers across 25 countries where the app is available. Deep dive → Engage

📦Various marketplaces

• TikTok to pilot in UK an in-app shopping "Trendy Beat" feature with popular items from trending videos sold by ByteDance, signaling a shift towards D2C and competition to Amazon and Shein. Deep dive → TechCrunch

• ChatGPT to launch an AI app marketplace that will allow developers to sell their AI models. Deep dive → Reuters

• Expedia to fully utilze AI and to transform digitally. As part of that effort, it incorporated 2 OpenAI plug-ins (one allows for Expedia booking of trips planned in ChatGPT, the other supports the planning on Expedia website). Deep dive → CIO

• eMAG reports smaller revenues but moves to profitability. eMAG to invest EUR 5M to further boost the cross-border sales. eMAG sellers who opted to expand to Hungary and Bulgaria increased sales by 40% compared to the domestic sales. Deep dive → Romania insider | Romania insider

• Leroy Merlin marketplace partnered with Byrd on Italian market to provide sellers with centralized fulfillment option across 7 European countries. The service will come with preferential fees for actually used warehousing space and a number of shipments sent. Deep dive → Transporti-italia