🌀 This November, consumers to stock up for Xmas with essentials

🛒 Mass Merchant

• 🌎 Amazon extends its "Buy with Prime" service. "Buy with Prime" is a payment option introduced in 2022 for e-retailers to incorporate into their stores. This streamlines the payment process for customers, ensuring Prime orders are delivered within two days. Amazon now allows "Buy with Prime" purchasers in the US to track orders, access 24/7 customer service, and process returns directly through their Amazon account mirroring the experience of orders placed directly on Amazon's platform. Deep dive → TheVerge

• 🇨🇳 Alibaba and JD.com reported an increase in sales on Singles Day. Both companies have been silent about specific figures since the record year of 2021. Chinese data service Syntun estimates that Alibaba's gross merchandise sales rose 2.1 percent during SinglesDay. Discounts of 40-50% were much more common than in previous years. Deep dive → Nikkei | FashionUnited 

• 🇺🇸 eBay rolled out its new "Best Offer Immediate Payment" feature in the USA. With this update, sellers receive payment upon acceptance of a buyer's "best offer," eliminating the previous waiting period that often resulted in delayed payments and potential order cancellations. While immediate purchase through the "Buy Now" option has been a long-standing practice, eBay experimented with this approach in regular auctions during the summer, targeting a specific group of buyers. Despite the shift in sales dynamics, auctions still account for around 12.5% of eBay's sales, maintaining a close association with the platform's brand. Deep dive → ChannelX

• 🇺🇸 Amazon to sell cars online, starting with Hyundai. Buyers in the US will be able to browse and purchase vehicles from dealers on Amazon starting next year. Amazon did not provide details about how many dealers agreed to participate. Customers will be able to search on Amazon for available vehicles in their area based on a range of preferences, including model, trim, color, and features, choose their preferred car, and then check out online with their chosen payment and financing options. Deep dive → BBC

• 🇺🇸 Amazon will run shopping ads on Snap and Meta. The partnership will allow Snapchat and Facebook users to shop with their Amazon accounts without having to leave the app. Amazon looks to capitalize on the growing use of social media for shopping. Deep dive → CNN Business | RetailTouchpoints

• 🇪🇺 Amazon introduces 100% recyclable packaging throughout its European network. The recyclable packaging covers both Amazon-sold items and third-party products under Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). All customer orders now come in eco-friendly, recyclable packaging such as flexible paper bags, cardboard envelopes, and corrugated cardboard boxes. Amazon witnessed a 50% increase YoY in products shipped without extra packaging in Europe. Deep dive → Packaging Europe

• 🇵🇱 Allegro is gearing up to enter new markets in 2024. Allegro plans to expand into Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia, and Hungary. Allegro's entry into the Slovak market is set to commence in the first quarter of 2024. Deep dive → Cashless

👗 Fashion & Beauty

• 🌎 Vestiaire Collective bans selective fast fashion brands from its resale platform. Banned brands include Abercrombie & Fitch, Gap, H&M, Mango, Uniqlo, Urban Outfitters, and Zara. In November last year, Vestiaire announced the first selection of fast fashion brands and retailers that it would cut including Asos, Boohoo, Miss Selfridge, Missguided, Nasty Gal, Pretty Little Thing, Shein and more. Deep dive → Drapersonline

• 🇺🇸 Fashionphile takes over Canadian platform LXR. The US luxury accessories resale platform Fashionphile is taking over LXR after its bankruptcy. LXR curates, sources, and authenticates high-quality pre-owned products from luxury brands and sells them directly to wholesale and retail resellers through its website. Deep dive → FashionNetwork

• 🇬🇧 Shein plans a Manchester office as it targets UK expansion. The site will be the fast-fashion company’s second in the UK. It has a London office, which employs roughly 40 workers. Shein will initially hire 15 staff members in 2024. Deep dive → retailgazette

• 🌎 Farfetch's Wanna launched AR 3D Viewer. The Viewer enables luxury e-commerce retailers to provide immersive 3D experiences across all product categories. This addresses the ongoing challenge of replicating the tactile in-store experience in the online shopping realm. Deep dive → FashionNetwork

• 🇵🇱 Answear.com makes its debut in the Italian market, expanding its e-commerce presence in Western Europe. Italy becomes the 12th market for the company, known for its online store offering fashion and interior design products. Answear.com sales are diversified, with no single market contributing more than 30% to the company's total revenue. Deep dive → WiadomościHandlowe

🍔 Food & Grocery

• 🌎 Delivery Hero lifts the GMV forecast. Delivery Hero raised its annual gross merchandise value (GMV) target after the online takeaway food company beat third-quarter expectations on the same metric, sending its shares up 5%. Growth was boosted by the use of AI to improve logistics and how the food was presented on Delivery Hero's platforms, boosting orders. The German group also cited improved monetization through its advertising technology, as well as service and subscription fees. Deep dive → XMbroker

• 🇺🇸 Instacart unveils new tools to boost discovery for up-and-coming brands. Digital Sell Sheets and Brand Explorer help retailers discover up-and-coming brands to stock on their shelves. These new tools can improve a brand’s ability to engage with retailers, increasing the likelihood of having their products stocked. This expanded shelf presence not only amplifies exposure to a broader customer base but also holds the potential to substantially boost sales. Deep dive → SearchEngineLand

• 🇺🇸 DoorDash expands marketplace with Save Mart Companies. The partnership will provide consumers in California and Nevada access to Save Mart, Lucky and FoodMaxx on DoorDash, allowing them to have groceries delivered to their door the same day in under an hour on average. Deep dive → YahooFinance

• 🇬🇧 Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat urged for stricter controls. Britain's interior ministry asked to end the practice of unchecked account sharing by their drivers and riders over worries about illegal and underage workers. While food delivery companies conduct initial checks on individuals seeking employment, verifying their age and legal right to work in Britain, once approved, drivers have the ability to subcontract their accounts to others without undergoing further scrutiny. Deep dive → Pymnts

• 🇩🇪 Wolt to deliver pharmacies in Germany. Wolt partnered with Sanvivo to be able to offer a range of 950 local pharmacies directly in the Wolt app. Sanvivo connects local pharmacies with digital business models and wants to turn them into digital market participants. Initially, customers in Hamburg, Munich, Berlin and Düsseldorf will be able to save themselves the trip to the pharmacy. Deep dive → Mobiflip

📦Various

• 🌎 Spotify launches a podcast ad marketplace in 5 countries. The Spotify Audience Network, first launched in 2021, is available in nine countries, such as Germany and the US for podcast publishers and creators to monetize their content. After investing over a billion dollars to build up its podcast business with 5M titles and 100M podcast listeners, Spotify is focusing on boosting advertisement revenue from the format. Deep dive → Reuters

• 🇪🇺 JD.com potentially wants to acquire MediaMarkt and Saturn. JD.com has been in talks with several shareholders, including The Haniel family, which holds a 16.7% stake in Ceconomy, the parent company of MediaMarkt and Saturn. The electronics retail group Ceconomy is considered chronically undervalued; in February, the French retail group Fnac Darty was discussed as an interested party, and in September, the Migros subsidiary Galaxus. Deep dive → RetailDiv

• 🇦🇺 Woolworths Group consolidates its 3 marketplaces into one platform. “MarketPlus” combines business from MyDeal, Everyday Market, and the recently launched Big W market. The combined platform hosts thousands of sellers and boasts partnerships with homegrown brands like Koala and Appliances Online. Deep dive → PowerRetail

🌟Spotlight

• 🇺🇸 Dwellsy's (consumer-first rental search platform) earns $11.5M seed round. Dwellsy, which launched 4 years ago, hosts a consumer-facing marketplace and provides quality, enterprise-level rental price data. The data, which is continuously refreshed, includes information on over 14 million rental units. More than 250 attributes are covered, providing extensive details for informed decision-making. Deep dive → Yahoo finance

• 🇫🇷 Upway (refurbished e-bike marketplace) raised $30M at a higher valuation. Upway is proving out an impressive enough business case to boost its market capitalization at a time when most valuations are coming back down to earth. Upway didn’t share its new valuation, but the fresh capital brings its total funding to $60 million. Upway intends to use the fresh funding to expand further in the U.S. Deep dive → TechCrunch

• 🇺🇸 Glencoco raises $3M to build a marketplace where B2B companies exchange leads for bounties. Glencoco provides the tools, software, and interface for companies to freely list a campaign on its marketplace and allow certified business development consultants to source sales-qualified meetings and submit them to companies on a flexible, gig-remote basis. The company intends to use the funds to further invest in AI augmentation to improve user productivity and expand their services beyond the US, UK and Canada to address global demand. Deep dive → FinSmes