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Dear Readers,

Apologies again for being so late. I had a busy week and also had a hospital day today (I go every 8 weeks) for treatment.

What is on my mind:

1. When Amazon Web Services (AWS) has issues, it impacts the Internet. Last week, I learnt that many e-commerce businesses were impacted. Amazon's logistics business likely has a backlog of several million packages. In Latin America, Mercado Libre, iFood, and PicPay were disrupted. Mercado Libre likely lost millions of Reais of revenue as its shopping cart and login were impacted. How can AWS make this right with these platforms, and does this restart the conversation on using different cloud solutions to negate the impact, as AWS is unreliable?
2. There is a 61-page research report on the impact that large language models currently have on regular commerce channels. The authors from the University of Hamburg and the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management argue that 12 months of data and $20M in transactions are not yet affected by ChatGPT. When and how will this change, or is this cannibalization of these channels?
3. One unintended consequence of the tariffs I am beginning to see is the formation of trade partnerships between non-traditional partners. This past week it was a brand from Brazil talking about potential opportunities in Azerbaijan.

​

​Onwards, Hendrik

Around The World in Marketplaces

Africa

Yaga raises €4M to scale its sustainable fashion marketplace.

ANKA, the Ivorian e-commerce startup once known as Afrikrea, has been acquired by New York-based Global Shop for an undisclosed sum.

China

China Wants to Exorcize ‘Ghost Kitchens’. The Diplomat

The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) has recognized this. This year, it named ghost kitchens a significant challenge that had emerged during the soon-concluding 14th Five Year Plan period, though it did say it had “comprehensively managed” the issue. This month, the SAMR released a draft of beefed-up rules for the business that aim to curb the ghost kitchen problem.

Food delivery platforms to do away with financial penalties, sparking debate.

JD.com eyes Hong Kong insurance market amid wider expansion. Singles Day shopping festival off to great start in China, with AI leading way.

Europe

Austrian recommerce marketplace refurbed raises €50M. Temu Doubles Its EU Profits to $1.7b.

Allegro to launch new app with improved product discovery. Temu overtakes Allegro as Poland's most popular marketplace. Temu expands in Lithuania.

YOXO launches a digital store dedicated to refurbished devices, in partnership with Recommerce in Romania. Carrefour becomes the first major grocery chain in Romania to list products on the Trendyol platform..

EuroCommerce: ‘parcel tax should be EU-wide’. Insight: Pressure grows on Europe to act on Chinese import surge. Reeves to target Shein and Temu with import tax clampdown in Budget.Türkiye’s new restrictions on Chinese goods to hit Temu, Aliexpress, Shein.

Amazon removes the default two-day handling time in Europe.

Imports of Russian Goods to Uzbekistan via Wildberries increased by 25% in the first nine months of 2025.

India

Amazon India culls cash burn across domains In FY25. Blinkit inventory-led model powers Eternal’s Q2FY26 growth as food delivery stalls. Logistics arm Valmo powers Meesho’s profitability push.

Latin America

MercadoLibre to sell products of Brazil rival Casas Bahia under new partnership. Reuters

MercadoLibre will start selling Brazilian retailer Casas Bahia's products on its platform in November under a new long-term commercial partnership, the companies said on Thursday. The move is expected to increase MercadoLibre's share in its main market, Brazil, in segments such as electronics and household appliances, Casas Bahia's core business, by also boosting sales of the retailer, executives from both firms told Reuters.

Mercado Libre has announced a new policy for its Brazilian sellers that can transform marketplace dynamics in Brazil. From the 23rd of October onward, the platform will start monitoring product prices on Shopee and Amazon.

Deregulated Argentina rushes to buy from global e-commerce giants.

Seoul Business Agency (SBA) said on the 23rd that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with MercadoLibre Chile

Walmart Connect Mexico powers its omnichannel Retail Media Offering with AppsFlyer.

Middle East

Amazon now delivers across the UAE in 15 minutes with Amazon Now, plus thousands more items available within two hours. Amazon to launch online grocery delivery in Saudi Arabia with Al-Othaim Markets. 60-Minute Delivery is the New Battleground for GCC Logistics.

South East Asia and Australia

Gmarket to invest $490M in push with Alibaba to sell Korean goods abroad. Korea Joongang Daily

Gmarket plans to invest 700 billion won ($490 million) next year as it focuses on selling Korean goods to overseas consumers in cooperation with Alibaba's AliExpress. The expanded cross-border service will allow Korean products from Gmarket to be purchased directly through AliExpress, the Korean e-commerce platform announced on Tuesday, thanks to the deep integration between the Korean e-commerce platform and Alibaba.

Shopee and Lazada remain Thailand’s most recommended e-commerce brands.

ShopeeVIP launches an upgraded membership hub for premium shoppers for RM6.99/month in Malaysia.

AliExpress pilots 'AliFresh' Fresh food delivery service in South Korea. KOTRA and DHL Korea sign an agreement on discounted international express shipping rates to support cross-border e-commerce exports. South Korea's Bunjang launches AI authentication system to fight counterfeits.

.From stroller maker to global parenting brand: Goodbaby’s Southeast Asia expansion.

US

CBP has processed nearly 24M parcels that would have been duty-free since the US ended de minimis exemption. Reuters

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has processed nearly 24 million packages that would have received duty-free treatment since the end of the de minimis exemption on August 29, an agency spokesperson said last week.

Amazon links up with USPS for doorstep returns. Amazon's global marketplace opportunity.

Stadium Goods brings its sneaker sales to Walmart Marketplace. Poshmark loses another Co-Founder as SVP Seller Experience Tracy Sun exits.

TikTok tightens grip on sellers ahead of holiday promotions. Palmstreet marketplace for everything houseplants.

Luxury Commerce

Prada’s Lorenzo Bertelli on the Versace deal, the luxury industry’s challenges, and more. FashioNetwork

On the luxury market's prospects, Bertelli said that “we’re going through a normalisation phase, after the 2000s, when consumers were very keen on luxury products. I worry about social tensions. People are now afraid of wearing luxury watches. The widening social divide is preventing the base from expanding, and luxury risks becoming something for the elite,” said Bertelli.

The RealReal class action alleges company charges ‘junk fees’ on returns. L’Oreal adds discounted Creed to its stable of luxury brands.

Emma McFerran on Lyst’s future under new ownership ($). Tax-free luxury sales rise by 7% in Europe.

Luxury brands ride beauty boom in Brazil, category drives sales in country now seen as key growth market, says Bain & Company report. India is a breakout market to watch, says Business of Fashion’s Imran Amed. European luxury groups hedge bets on predicting China comeback.

Fashion and Beauty e-commerce

ASOS Brands Director on ushering in a retail renaissance via brand diversity, digital personalisation and innovation.

In an exclusive interview at TheIndustry.fashion’s Retail Reset Summit, Shazmeen Malik, Brands Director at ASOS, shared how the online retailer is creating an elevated and engaging online experience by evolving its brand mix, digital innovation and connection with its customer base.

LVMH explores sale of its 50% stake in Rihanna-backed Fenty Beauty, sources say. Marc Jacobs Set to Leave LVMH as Acquisition by Authentic Brands Becomes Increasingly Likely.

Matin Kim, Musinsa, and other trendsetting Korean fashion brands are going global.

Beiersdorf blames tariffs uncertainty for Latin America weakness.

Research conducted by The Australia Institute last May revealed Australia surpassed the US, UK, and China as the world’s biggest consumer of textiles per capita, purchasing roughly 56 new pieces of clothing each year.

ShopMy raises $70M at a $1.5B valuation to scale its curated commerce infrastructure for premium brands, tastemakers, and shoppers.

AI and Commerce

I let ChatGPT Atlas do my Walmart shopping for me - here's how the AI browser agent did. ZDNet

Agent ran into some hurdles. Walmart's site threw up a language-selection pop-up that seemed to block Agent from navigating. Despite giving Atlas access to my Chrome data and Keychain, I wasn't logged into Walmart in the browser, so Agent also didn't know my location or default store. Without that info, it couldn't tell which products were in stock for delivery.

Amazon’s new AI-powered shopping feature, ‘Help Me Decide,’ makes it easy to quickly pick the right product. Amazon

Amazon offers an extensive selection of products along with a variety of shopping tools that help you research and make informed purchase decisions. However, sometimes you simply want one clear recommendation to help you finish your shopping. To help you quickly decide between similar products, today we’re announcing a new shopping feature called Help Me Decide, which picks the best product for you with just one tap.

Google and Anthropic announce cloud deal worth tens of billions of dollars.

AI tax platform Anrok bags $55M in Series C funding. Moonshot AI raises $10M in Seed funding to create websites that think and evolve.. Natural, a San Francisco, CA-based fintech company building the infrastructure powering agentic payments, raised $9.8M in seed funding. Bizcap acquires Israeli fintech 8fig to expand AI-powered funding for SMEs.

AI’s 90% Accuracy in Predicting Buyer Intent Reshapes E-Commerce.

McKinsey forecasts up to $5 trillion in agentic commerce sales by 2030. Snack maker Mondelez is using a new generative AI tool to cut costs for the production of marketing content by 30% to 50%, a senior executive told Reuters.

Airbnb picks Alibaba’s Qwen over ChatGPT in a win for Chinese open-source AI. Alibaba launches AI chatbot service in renewed consumer push.

Advertising

Clinch Named First Third-Party Ad Serving Solution to Serve Ads to Amazon Custom Audiences.

Clinch, an Agentic AI platform for omnichannel advertising, today announced an expanded collaboration with Amazon Ads, becoming the first third-party ad serving solution to serve ads to Amazon Custom Audiences, a functionality reserved for creatives served directly by Amazon.

Confusion over Black Friday’s place on the calendar has spawned ‘Fake Friday’, a phenomenon Google leadership and retail experts say has real implications for brands in the busy sales season in 2025.

Amazon offers free DSP face-off for Media Buyers, Leaked Slides Show ($).

Google clicks on stake in $1bn e-commerce business THG Ingenuity. Celebrating 25 years of Google Ads. YouTube sponsorships surge 54% as brands bet on creators. Google abandons Privacy Sandbox as ad industry shifts to AI and first-party data.

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

Jameel Motors and Careem team up to drive greener deliveries in the UAE.

Bosta and e& join forces to revolutionize Egypt’s fintech-logistics ecosystem.

Neolix, the world's largest provider of L4 autonomous delivery (RoboVan) solutions, has raised over $600 million in its Series D financing.. Grubhub and self-driving startup Avride launch robot food delivery pilot in Jersey City.

Flipkart-backed Shadowfax to launch $301m IPO in India.

Amazon will buy thousands of pedal-assist cargo vehicles from Rivian spinoff Also. Partners Group agrees to exit minority stake in global logistics provider Apex Logistics. PostNord wins Zalando contract, resumes US parcels.

BuyWander enters Utah market with a fourth warehouse store.

Consumer

Groceries via delivery apps like Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Milkrun can be up to 39% more expensive. The Guardian

Convenience can come at a steep price, Choice has found, with Australian consumers paying up to 39% more for groceries ordered through rapid delivery apps. Choice compared in-store prices of 13 common grocery items available at Coles, Woolworths and Aldi with their equivalents on third-party apps Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Woolworths-owned Milkrun.

Quince sells a lot of sweaters. Can it sell sofas? Business of Home

In one respect, it’s silly to question whether Quince can work for home, as the brand has clearly already had success in bedding. Its linens take up real estate on the company’s list of bestsellers, and the line has resonated even with home’s most demanding customers: designers. Few have tried its case goods or upholstery, but many have explored the linens.

Walmart reveals online store plans in South Africa.

Primark opens its first flagship store in the Middle East.

NX Group invests in SECAI MARCHE, a fresh produce e-commerce company serving ASEAN.

PayPal increases stake to 41% in Shopware. Nomagic selected by Zalando to expand robotic warehouse capabilities.

Arena Group acquires ShopHQ to revive a once-major online retailer. P&G latest to flag diverging consumer spending as profit tops on beauty demand.

Q2FY26 Earnings Call: Reliance rules out building LLMs, focuses on AI infrastructure and quick commerce expansion. Unilever & L'Oréal report strong growth from India's quick commerce, traditional online channels.

Payments

Juspay integrates Mastercard Click to Pay in Brazil.

Nigerian digital lender Lidya shuts down operations despite raising $16.45 million.

Stats and Other Interesting News

Australians spend record A$20.7bn on online shopping in Q3. Amazon loses its second vice president in the devices division this month. Is online grocery shopping affecting our eating habits?

Tencent Cloud and eMAG Join Forces to Accelerate Digital Growth Across Eastern European E-Commerce.

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 335, sent on 25 October 2025.