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Dear Readers,

The three things on my mind this week:

1. I was shocked to learn that eBay turned 30 years old this past week. The original marketplace pioneer will continue to operate the way it has over the last decade. The most interesting note is that eBay management thought this was the time to mention that they are also working on incorporating AI. CEO Jamie Iannone then made a bold claim that, to his knowledge, eBay had never passed a counterfeit item through any of its authentication centers
2. Zalando finally lost its case of being labeled as a Very Large Online Platform [pdf] by the EU's Digital Services Act..It has attempted to argue that it is a hybrid marketplace, selling its own goods as well as those from third-party brands. It was unable to showcase how many consumers were able to view content from third parties.
3. The biggest news of the week is that Amazon must face a class-action lawsuit [pdf] over allegedly overcharging customers who purchased goods from third-party sellers. The certified class includes customers who bought more than five items from Amazon’s marketplace after May 2017. This will have huge implications for sure.

I want to thank all the readers who take the time to reply to this email (I spend a considerable amount of time creating this newsletter) and appreciate any comments, even if you disagree with me. I want you to know that all comments are confidential and are not shared.

If you'd like to help me, please share this newsletter to help me grow my list.

​Onwards,

Hendrik

Around The World in Marketplaces

Africa

​Takealot for Business simplifies procurement for local enterprises. Bolt Market records 300% growth in Kenya. Mohammed Elhorishy structures e-commerce for Egyptian SME through Taager.

China

China’s e-commerce giants rush to Europe as Trump upends trade. - The Straits Times​

In Britain, for instance, Chinese firms have taken up more than two million sq ft of space in 2025, potentially on track to beat the 2.3 million sq ft uptake at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, according to data from CoStar. A similar phenomenon is playing out across continental Europe, with landlords noticing an increase in inquiries from Chinese groups.

Apple launches official storefront on Douyin for iPhone sales in China. Meituan and JD.com take rivalry from the App to the aisle. The global stakes of Alibaba’s quick commerce bet.

Europe

Kaufland Marketplace has launched in Italy [in German]. SMG announces IPO on the SIX Swiss Exchange. Marketplaces are driving e-commerce in Spain [in Spanish]. Italian court cuts 1.1-billion-Euro antitrust fine on Amazon. Allegro is not in disagreement with any partners, CEO says. France demands EU be given formal powers to delist non-compliant e-tailers. Greece in the Grip of Shein and Temu [in Greek].

​Swedish CDON partners with Finnish Renow to resell returns and enhance sustainability

India

​Flipkart buys majority stake in Pinkvilla to boost engagement, deepen content play and target Gen Z. FirstClub bucks India’s speed obsession, quickly triples valuation to $120M with premium approach. Amazon completes Axio acquisition, secures access to direct lending business in India​
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Latin America

Mercado Libre launched a B2B wholesale purchasing platform.[in Spanish]. Mercado Libre enters the pharmaceutical retail sector [in Portuguese]. Cainiao opens first self-operated logistics center in Mexico.

Middle East

Fast&Up, Noon combat summer fatigue with Reload activation. Middle East’s Amazon rival Noon plans public offering within two years [$]

South East Asia and Australia

Temu won an overseas e-commerce award in the South Korea brand awards. Coupang is launching its "AI First" strategy.

​JD.com keen to expand Malaysian operations, eyeing logistics sector. Indonesia becomes TikTok Shop’s 2nd largest market at $6.2b. Lessons from the Gojek founder’s arrest. Lazada Thailand positions itself as a premium marketplace​
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​Amazon Australia partnered with Afterpay to offer BNPL option.

​ECOMMIT secures undisclosed Series B funding, forms capital and business alliance with Mercari to expand circular infrastructure.

US

​Amazon US Prime sign-ups slow despite expanded Prime Day push, data shows. Amazon must face US nationwide class action over third-party sales. Amazon cracks down on Prime free shipping sharing.

​Untappd partners with DoorDash to expand craft beverage listings. eBay CEO marks 30-year anniversary with bold claims on authentication & AI capabilities. eBay celebrates 30 years of creating economic opportunity for all as it reinvents the future of E-commerce

College social app Fizz expands into grocery delivery with Gopuff partnership. TikTok and Fandango team up to launch movie ticketing integration, powered by TikTok Spotlight. Walmart and TalkShopLive expand partnership, further powering Walmart Marketplace.

First INFORM Consumers Act enforcement case filed against online marketplace Temu. Wayfair vendors are stealing British design. Why?

Luxury Commerce

​LuxExperience Announces Measures as Part of the Transformation Plan to Regain Growth and Financial Strength for Acquired YOOX NET-A-PORTER (“YNAP”) Business After Years of Decline.

To serve customers better and more efficiently, select operational and administrative structures within the luxury segment comprising NET-A-PORTER and MR PORTER as well as the off-price segment comprising YOOX and THE OUTNET in Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States and other jurisdictions will be consolidated. LuxExperience expects that this consolidation will result in a partial reduction of the workforce across several sites, and may affect approximately 700 employees across Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States and other jurisdictions, subject to the completion of applicable information and consultation processes

​Cettire plunges into the red as luxury slowdown bites. Ssense lenders seek fast sale of struggling fashion retailer.

​Comfort, Craft and Value: Building a Luxury Shoe Brand That Puts Fit First. The RealReal’s 2025 resale report. Groupe Rocher selects Regent to acquire Petit Bateau.

Fashion and Beauty e-commerce

Sonoma Brands invests in British beauty distributor Discovered Brands. P.Louise breaks TikTok Shop Live sales record with $2.7 million sales in 14 hours. eBay expands authenticity guarantee to clothing in UK resale push.

Fashion retailer Zalando loses key EU court battle over online content rules. Nike settles lawsuit against StockX over NFTs, counterfeiting. France fines Shein $176M over cookies. Shein UK accused of moving ‘vast bulk of income’ to Singapore to cut British tax.

​TrusTrace links with ASOS to enhance supply chain transparency. Blue Banana prepares to launch in Lebanon and Chile under the wholesale model [in Spanish]. Tuscan footwear group Barachini announced the acquisition of the Spanish label Menbur under a licensing contract.

​Mosaic Brands has been ordered to pay AU$25.05M in penalties for widespread breaches of the Australian Consumer Law.

​Digital Brands Group and the University of Alabama announce an exclusive private label apparel manufacturing agreement. Vegamour is betting on LinkedIn as the next big social platform [$]. Morocco’s Justyol raises $1M to scale E-Commerce platform across North Africa.

AI and Commerce

"Will AI be as big of a catalyst for a consumer AI wave as mobile?" Amazon is ready to enter the AI agent race in a big way, according to internal documents.

Ex-Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor’s Sierra raises $250M at a $10 billion valuation. You.com raises $100M to help developers build AI applications. Augment raises $85M Series A to supercharge Augie, logistics’ most trusted AI teammate. AI startup.HappyRobot has raised $44M in Series B funding to bring real-world AI benefits to shipping and freight. Intella bags $12.5M in oversubscribed Series A. Former Flipkart executive Ranjith Boyanapalli launches AI-powered shopping assistant, Flash AI. VCs put customer service AI on speed dial.

​Amazon launches Lens Live, an AI-powered shopping tool for use in the real world.

Kroger faces a patent infringement lawsuit from AI company, Alpha Modus. Dcluttr, an India-based AI copilot for quick commerce growth marketing, has raised an undisclosed pre-seed funding round. AI shopping assistants can’t agree: ChatGPT and Google clash on 62% of product recommendations.

Advertising

Amazon’s vision for a full-funnel retail media future. - ClickZ​

The key takeaway is that retail media is evolving beyond just the point of purchase, and brands need to also have a presence on streaming services and the open internet, and they can benefit from thinking, planning and measuring more holistically when it comes to their marketing mix and supply strategy.

Nike reframes ‘Just Do It’ as ‘Why Do It?’ to engage next-gen athletes. - Retail Dive​

The brand is working hard to realign around sports and encourage young athletes in a climate marked by sociopolitical contention and economic pressure.

Court issues remedies ruling in United States v. Google Search case. Judge blocks Google’s exclusive search deals, lets Chrome stay in antitrust ruling. Amazon Ad placements see a sudden shift away from product detail pages. Amazon Advertising: the modern ‘Mad Men’​

Logistics is sponsored by Third Person - a new way for brands to discover 3PLs

Kimberly Reuter on Building Amazon Global and What Every Supply Chain Leader Needs to Know Now. Grit Daily​

If you haven’t already, now is the time to take control of your demand forecasting and inventory levels. Just-in-time inventory management is more important than ever. Many companies are reacting to media cycles by panic buying and without a clear strategy

Best Buy and others add Uber Eats, Instacart for delivery options. Additional US parties qualified for the payment of duty on International Mail shipments. Amazon pauses delivery fleet redeployments after outcry over repair costs [$]

​BravoTran acquires Keystroke.io to deliver a complete Invoicing automation solution for freight forwarders. DHL eCommerce UK and Evri secure unconditional CMA approval for merger. Is Abu Dhabi building the GCC’s first true digital trade superhub?

Geneva’s Fly-Box secures CHF 3M to advance flying freight platforms. Turkey's Horoz in a delivery deal with Temu. Cainiao shortens delivery times in Southeast Asia.

Consumer

Unilever CEO Fernando Fernandez to review top 200 leadership roles. German online etailers will be required to install an easily accessible cancellation button on their websites [in German]. From Google engineer to global brand, Steven Yang on building Anker [Video]

Grocery-focused social e-commerce platform CityMall has raised $47M in Series D funding. WheelsOn, a Dubai, UAE-based provider of a mobile-first car rental platform, raised $12.5M in funding.

Finland-based Swappie, a recommerce company specializing in refurbished iPhones and iPads, rose by 20% year-over-year to €248M ($289 million) in 2024, according to Proff.fi. Online grocer Rohlik bets on services, advertising as it mulls IPO.

EB Games teams with Menulog to launch game delivery in Australia. Naver, Kurly launch 'premium' online grocery service Kurly N Mart in South Korea.

Furniture brand Walker Edison files for bankruptcy. Pittsburgh online grocer Harvie, indebted and short on cash, seeks bankruptcy protection. Walmart+ celebrates 5th anniversary with expanded video streaming choices.

Fine Wine Fellow enters agreement to acquire Norman Goodfellows. Toys R Us, Babies R Us acquires Toy Zone in South Africa. Online sales at Woolworths jump to 6.6% of total.

Payments

Klarna to raise as much as $1.27B. ShopeePay and Allianz General unveil insurance plans, Priced From RM20 in Malaysia. Japan payment provider PayPay teams up with China's WeChat Pay. Boleto loses ground and represents only 4% of payments in Brazilian retail [in Portuguese]. Lotte Card lays out immediate response to cyber breach. Visa wants agentic commerce to develop on its payment network.

Stats and Other Interesting News

​South Korean online shopping rose 7.3% in July, driven by growing demand for food and travel services. JetBlue to become first airline to boost its inflight Wi-Fi via Amazon’s Project Kuiper network. Google and Visa unpack the commerce landscape in the UAE and Saudi. Online shopping for 45 minutes a day at work is not grounds for dismissal.

The content here is for informational purposes only and should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice. It does NOT constitute an offer or solicitation to purchase any investment or a recommendation to buy or sell a security. The content is not directed to any investor or potential investor and may not be used to evaluate or make any investment.

This was edition number 328, sent on 6 September 2025.