Top eCommerce Stories

Google is now showing a new set of search results when people look for deals.

Searches with words like “deals” and “Black Friday” will trigger a dedicated feed of discounted products in Google Shopping.

In addition, the new feed can be accessed any time from the Shopping tab without a specific query.

Thrasio, the top U.S. aggregator of Amazon third-party sellers, was racing to the public markets to fuel its rapid expansion. But the company has delayed its plan to go public through a SPAC amid complications with its financial audits, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Thrasio had eyed completing a reverse merger with a special purpose acquisition company by the end of the year, before changing course over the summer, said the people, who asked not to be named because the plans haven’t been discussed publicly. The company could still pursue a SPAC, but is also considering other financing options, including a traditional IPO, the people said.

The year 2021 inspired incredible change in the ecommerce industry as a result of the effects of Covid in 2020. From improved automation to artificial intelligence to virtual and augmented reality, the pandemic caused a paradigm shift from “the normal way” of things to “the new way.”

These new changes forced many ecommerce businesses to pivot to a new way of doing business.

A quick example is how Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, couldn’t meet the one-day delivery for non-edible items and same-day delivery for edible items it promised its Prime customers.

To fix this, Amazon introduced “Amazon Scout.” This fully electric autonomous-delivery system rolls down the sidewalk at a walking pace and delivers right to customers. With a big player like this in the ecommerce business pivoting to an advanced delivery method, a chain of new trends in ecommerce will emerge.

In 2020, ecommerce within Europe has kept on growing. The total worth of European ecommerce grew to 757 billion euros. This is a 10 percent growth from 690 billion euros in 2019.

Over the last years, there has been a steady increase in the number and share of online shoppers within Europe every year. The largest jump in the number of online shoppers can be seen in 2020, due in part to the Covid-19 pandemic pushing consumers to online shopping. The percentage of online shoppers was 71 in 2020, while it was just 66 percent in the year before.

These findings are stated in the 2021 European Ecommerce Report, published by Ecommerce Europe and EuroCommerce. Though ecommerce within Europe grew significantly, with 10 percent, the growth was smaller than in 2019 (14 percent). The sharp decline of online sales in tourism and the services sector due to Covid-19 contributed to holding back overall growth.

While “live shopping” has been the buzzword on every brand marketer’s lips, adoption comes with a lot of questions. One of the most pressing questions we’ve seen circling around emails, webinars and routine Zoom calls is in deciding who the face of these live-shopping events should be, and how a new industry standard for selection, payment and expertise can be implemented.

As director of marketing and communications at a live-shopping startup in North America, I’ve watched the continent’s adopters soar to success — or learn big lessons.

After watching the influencer market rise to its present-day success, I want to break down how brands should be selecting, compensating and coaching their influencer hosts, as well as outline a few key terms industry players should keep note of.

The Payment Services for Adobe Commerce service will be powered by PayPal’s own commerce platform, and it means that merchants no longer have to do their own integration work with third-party payment providers.

Adobe explains, “Payment Services will be a fully-integrated experience for merchants in which all payment and transaction data will be readily accessible within the Adobe Commerce Admin. Merchants will no longer have to contend with multiple logins and other disjointed user experiences for their payment processing, such as exporting and importing reports from multiple systems to reconcile, analyse, and verify sales information.”

The service will also enable merchants to accept existing payment methods like PayPal (including PayPal’s pay later services) and Venmo. Merchants will al

The exact amount of growth capital that was raised, Proforto will not say. But apparently it is enough to professionalize the company as well as its software systems. “The last few years we were mainly focused on increasing turnover. But in the years to come, we want to shift that focus towards growth and profitability,” says chief operational officer Jelle Gudden in a press release.

The raised funds come from Dutch investment company Nobel Capital Partners. The angel investors that funded the starting years of Proforto, such as former CEO of Bol.com Daniel Ropers, will remain as shareholders and advisors. Thanks to the money raised by Nobel Capital Partners, Proforto can increase their credit with the Dutch Rabobank, which also funded the start of the company.

Aiming for a hundred million euros in profit

Berlin Brands Group, or BBG, is one of many Amazon seller acquisition companies in Europe, but it’s probably the biggest. By bringing on board Bain Capital, which acquired a minority stake from Ardian, BBG has become the latest unicorn in Europe. The majority of the shares are still held by CEO and founder Peter Chaljawski and the executive team.

The platform provides businesses with a digital storefront, professional features, and tools, including a Dedicated Business Coach, catalogue listing, shipping facility and payments.

Rapid digitisation of SMBs and the deepening of the e-commerce ecosystem are huge trends in India and Bikayi is building a next-gen product that sits at the confluence of both these trends, integrating the entire infrastructure of commerce onto one single platform, Thakur noted.


#india

As the might of Amazon grows, so do the new wave of aggregator startups. Yesterday alone, $1.1bn worth of funding went into Europe’s aggregators, followed by a €30m raise today.

Aggregators aim to build large eCommerce businesses by buying up smaller, third-party merchants on the site. There are at least 21 aggregators in Europe, according to Dealroom — 19 of which have launched since 2020.

From Analyst to the American Red Cross
An environmental science and economics major at the University of Virginia, Trevor graduated from college and started a laundry delivery service for college students with one of his friends, Cainon Coates.

He and his friend found a commercial laundromat that already provided wash and fold service, worked out the delivery routes and schedule requirements, then bought a large van and started small.

Boost your sales & branding by creating web stories, blending video, audio, images, animation and text to create a dynamic consumption experience.

The Brand Web Story visual format lets your shoppers explore your content at their pace by tapping through it, or swiping from one piece of content to the next.

Ever wondered what your spirit animal is? For Mukul Chaware and Tarang Agarwal, two indie developers turned startup founders, the answer is simple: the panda. Their work (and life) philosophy emphasizes enjoying life, having freedom, and taking it easy. With calm strength and determination similar to the panda, they have carved out a balanced path to success.

Do you remember your childhood passion? Michael Martocci does. He sold lemonade and traded sports cards, buzzing off an entrepreneurial rush that has stuck with him for life.

Since those early hustles, Michael has built a social network, interned at a hedge fund, and in the last four years, scaled an award-winning branded merchandise startup, SwagUp, to over $50 million.

Spot a pattern, build a product – a formula for entrepreneurship that has generated Disco Labs founder, Gavin Ballard, a seven-figure income.

An ex-lawyer who gave up sixty-hour weeks to code full-time, Gavin has since founded a digital agency and SaaS product that helps Shopify Plus merchants create bespoke payment experiences for their customers.