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Tag: ecommerce

  • Startup e-commerce platform Temu expands to Europe

    Startup e-commerce platform Temu expands to Europe

    Ultra low-cost e-commerce platform Temu, owned by PDD Holdings has started selling to European markets including France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom.

    The Temu.com website now shows all of these markets on its location drop down menu in addition to the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, where it had previously already been available.

    PDD Holdings did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment on the expansion.

    Temu, the sister site of Chinese discount e-commerce platform Pinduoduo, has made a big splash since launching in the United States last September, selling shoes, jewelry, beauty accessories and home goods directly from Chinese merchants for very low prices.

    It’s a similar cross-border model to the one that has propelled Shein, which ships to more than 150 countries, to become the world’s biggest fast-fashion brand with annual sales of more than $58.5 billion.

    Temu, which is headquarted in Boston, saw 19 million US downloads in the first quarter of this year, according to mobile intelligence firm Sensor Tower, which also ranks Temu as the most downloaded app on Apple and Google Play stores in the United States.

    The platform’s gross merchandise value – total sales before expenses – grew from $3 million in September to $192 million in January, according to data firm YipitData.

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  • Amazon launches program to identify and track counterfeiters

    Amazon launches program to identify and track counterfeiters

    The company announced that Amazon launched its Anti-Counterfeiting Exchange (ACX), an initiative to help retail stores label and track marketplace counterfeits as part of the e-commerce giant’s efforts to crack down on organized crime on its platform on Thursday.

    Online marketplaces in the United States, including Amazon face hurdles in keeping counterfeiters off their platforms and fake merchandise from entering their warehouses. The new program mimics data exchange programs by the credit card industry to find scammers and identify their tactics.

    Stores and Amazon marketplace sellers can anonymously contribute information and records flagging counterfeiters to a third-party database or use the database to avoid doing business with the bad actors.

    “We think it is critical to share information about confirmed counterfeiters to help the entire industry stop these criminals earlier,” Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon’s vice president of selling partner services, said in a statement.

    The Seattle-based retail giant piloted the anti-counterfeiting initiative in 2021 with an undisclosed number of apparel, home goods and cosmetics stores, where counterfeiting is most common.

    As part of other anti-counterfeiting efforts, Amazon is also working with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection on a data pilot that helps the company identify and target low-value e-commerce shipments that may be counterfeit goods or break other regulations.

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  • Amazon launches program to identify and track counterfeiters

    Amazon launches program to identify and track counterfeiters

    The company announced that Amazon launched its Anti-Counterfeiting Exchange (ACX), an initiative to help retail stores label and track marketplace counterfeits as part of the e-commerce giant’s efforts to crack down on organized crime on its platform on Thursday.

    Online marketplaces in the United States including Amazon face hurdles in keeping counterfeiters off their platforms and fake merchandise from entering their warehouses. The new program mimics data exchange programs by the credit card industry to find scammers and identify their tactics.

    Stores and Amazon marketplace sellers can anonymously contribute information and records flagging counterfeiters to a third-party database or use the database to avoid doing business with the bad actors.

    “We think it is critical to share information about confirmed counterfeiters to help the entire industry stop these criminals earlier,” Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon’s vice president of selling partner services, said in a statement.

    The Seattle-based retail giant piloted the anti-counterfeiting initiative in 2021 with an undisclosed number of apparel, home goods and cosmetics stores, where counterfeiting is most common.

    As part of other anti-counterfeiting efforts, Amazon is also working with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection on a data pilot that helps the company identify and target low-value e-commerce shipments that may be counterfeit goods or break other regulations.

  • Buy2Sell Vietnam opens two new showrooms in Hanoi, HCMC

    Buy2Sell Vietnam opens two new showrooms in Hanoi, HCMC

    Buy2Sell Vietnam established two new showrooms in Vincom Mega Mall in Hanoi and SC Vivo City in Ho Chi Minh City last month.

    The Hanoi showroom is on the 1st floor of Vincom Mega Mall Times City and the HCMC showroom on the 3rd floor of SC VivoCity.

    Buy2Sell Vietnam plans to expand its new showroom chain to more than 100 stores in shopping centers in Southeast Asia during 2024-2030.

    Thousands of cosmetics, F&B, houseware, and appliances products… are exclusively distributed and displayed at these stores.

    All products are directly imported from over 60 countries, including the U.K., France, the U.S., Italy, Switzerland, Australia, Korea, and Japan.

    Vang Online is a high-end imported beverage distribution brand under Buy2Sell, specializing in wine and spirits, introducing numerous international premium beverage brands to the Vietnam market.

    In Vietnam, Buy2Sell is renowned as one of the first B2B e-commerce platforms focused on distributing imported goods since 2015, especially from brands yet to enter the market.

    Besides Vincom Mega Mall and SC ViVo City, Buy2Sell has invested in establishing its store chains at other top-tier shopping centers, including Lotte Mart (part of Lotte Korea Group).

    Buy2Sell has also invested in its online e-commerce platform, playing its role as a bridge for international brands to access the Vietnamese market more easily.

    Vincom Mega Mall Times City covers more than 230,000 m2 of various spaces including retail, food courts, supermarket and other entertainment venues, which is developed by Vingroup.

    SC VivoCity covering an area of around 62,000 m2 is developed by Mapletree, a major real estate investment, development, and fund management company in Asia.

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  • Etsy, other e-commerce companies feel squeeze of SVB collapse

    Etsy, other e-commerce companies feel squeeze of SVB collapse

    Etsy on Monday resumed payments to merchants with Silicon Valley Bank accounts after the e-commerce platform paused their payouts over the weekend following the U.S. government shutdown of the bank last week.

    Approximately 0.5% of Etsy’s active sellers -or around 2,700 merchants- had their payments delayed on Friday related to SVB’s collapse, according to Etsy.

    “We are working to pay these sellers today, and we’ve already started processing payments via another payment partner this morning,” an Etsy spokesperson told Reuters on Monday.

    The payments Etsy sellers received is unrelated to the Federal Reserve’s Sunday announcement, which ensured that SVB’s customers would have access to their funds on Monday.

    Shopify SHOP.TO, which provides websites and apps to stores, also halted payments to online sellers with Silicon Valley Bank accounts, telling merchants they must switch accounts to receive funds, according to the company’s website.

    Etsy and Shopify each work with 5.4 million and 1.75 million online merchants respectively worldwide, mostly small-to-medium size businesses.

    Some Etsy sellers decided to put their stores on vacation mode, pausing customer purchases in an effort to minimize their financial losses while others say they have received their payments on schedule.

    Moshe Steinberg, 31, said that he received a payment from Etsy on Monday morning, but is still waiting for it to clear with his bank.

    “It was a nail biting situation until I checked my bank account this morning,” the 3D-printed seller from Central Ohio said, adding that Etsy is currently his only source of income.

    Etsy merchant Elizabeth Thompson, 57, said she has received little guidance from the company on what transpired.

    “I just don’t understand why they can’t be a little more transparent about what’s going on. It’s not like it’s their fault,” she added.

    Etsy said it communicated with any seller who was impacted on Friday directly via email and posted an update in their forums on Saturday.

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  • E-commerce leverage in-app games to drive consumer spending

    E-commerce leverage in-app games to drive consumer spending

    Three in 10 people visited e-commerce platforms even if they had nothing to buy.

    Digital commerce platforms like Shopee used in-app games to allow users to win coins that increase their time on the app, which will ultimately raise consumer spending, a recent Euromonitor International study said.

    The study showed that 33% of consumers liked to look in stores even if they had nothing to purchase whilst more than half of consumers said they played mobile video games weekly.

    “Gamifying commerce experiences can improve loyalty schemes and enrich long-term engagement,” said Euromonitor.

    Aside from gaming programs, Gucci is also tapping metaverse to connect with the younger audience.

  • Alibaba group net income soars over 130% in December quarter

    Alibaba group net income soars over 130% in December quarter

    This is despite softer demand as well as supply chain and logistics disruptions.

    Alibaba Group Holdings reported its net income attributable to ordinary shareholders grew by 138% to US$6.78b in the quarter ending in December 2022.

    The company attributed this to the decrease in impairment of goodwill linked to Digital media and entertainment segment.

    “During the past quarter, we continued to improve operating efficiency and cost optimization that resulted in robust profit growth,” Toby Xu, Chief Financial Officer of Alibaba Group, said. “Our net cash position remains strong and we continue to generate healthy cash flow. During the quarter ended December 31, 2022, we repurchased 45.4 million ADSs for approximately US$3.3b under our share repurchase program as part of our ongoing commitment to improve our shareholder return.”

    Over the same period, Alibaba noted its revenue rose by 2% year-on-year to US$35.92b.

    “We delivered a solid quarter despite softer demand, supply chain and logistics disruptions due to impact of changes in COVID-19 measures,” Daniel Zhang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Group, said.

    “Looking ahead, we expect continued recovery in consumer sentiment and economic activity. We are focused on driving growth for our customers amid the competitive landscape, and creating sustainable, longterm value for our shareholders.”

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  • Tmall launches perfume advising services

    Tmall launches perfume advising services

    Alibaba’s online business-to-consumer retail platform Tmall has launched a perfume advising service, seeking to help consumers with perfume selection and use, the e-commerce giant said in a news release.

    Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino and Prada have piloted the service on their Tmall flagship stores, allowing its customers to chat with “certified perfume consultants,” receive advice on picking a daily scent or receive gifting tips.

    Close to 200 consumers tried out the service on its launch, including many male consumers buying perfumes for Valentine’s Day, the company said.per

    More brands plan to roll out the service in the coming months, said Alibaba

  • Alibaba tests ChatGPT-style tool as AI buzz intensifies

    Alibaba tests ChatGPT-style tool as AI buzz intensifies

    Alibaba Group on Wednesday said it is developing a ChatGPT-style tool that is currently in internal testing, joining a race by tech companies globally to show they are up to speed on generative artificial intelligence (AI) developments.

    The Chinese e-commerce group’s statement came after the 21st Century Herald newspaper reported that Alibaba is developing a ChatGPT-like dialogue robot which is currently open to employees for testing.

    When asked about the newspaper report, which also said that Alibaba might combine the technology with the group’s communication app DingTalk, Alibaba declined to comment.

    The company said it had been focused on large language models and generative AI for a number of years. Large language models are natural language processing systems which are trained on massive volumes of text, and are capable of answering and comprehending questions as well as generating new text.

    Alibaba’s US-listed shares rose 3.2 per cent premarket after the news.

    Shares in a number of other Chinese AI technology companies have soared in the past few days due to investor excitement over Open.Ai’s ChatGPT, which can generate articles, essays and jokes in response to prompts and has been rated the fastest-growing consumer app in history.

    Shares in Chinese search engine giant Baidu jumped by 15 per cent on Tuesday after it said it planned to complete testing of its “Ernie bot” in March. Google owner Alphabet Inc is also planning its own chatbot service and said it will use more artificial intelligence for its search engine.

    Microsoft, which owns Open.AI, plans to tie ChatGPT in with its search engine Bing.

    On Wednesday, another Chinese tech group JD.com said it was looking to integrate some methods and technology similar to ChatGPT’s into some of its products, such as its e-commerce platform’s customer service.

    A source familiar with NetEase told Reuters that the Chinese gaming company plans to deploy similar large language models technology to serve its education business.

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  • JD Sports to quit South Korean after five years

    JD Sports to quit South Korean after five years

    UK activewear label JD Sports is set to withdraw from South Korea after five years of operation, according to Edaily.

    The retailer was reported to have experienced a deepening deficit since the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to the decision. The source said JD Sports Korea had notified all employees of the exit plan.

    JD Sports entered South Korea in 2017 through a joint venture deal with South Korean footwear company Shoemarker. The first JD Sports store was opened in April 2018. Currently, the company operates 14 directly managed stores nationwide, including at Lotte World Tower in Jamsil, Seoul and Starfield Goyang.

    Meanwhile, the UK retailer has recently been the target of a cyber attack that resulted in unauthorised access to a system containing customer data relating to online orders between November 2018 and October 2020. The affected JD Sports group brands are JD, Size?, Millets, Blacks, Scotts and MilletSport.

    Earlier this year, British retailer Frasers Group bought shares in JD Sports for about US$57.7 million, as the Mike Ashley-owned company continues its drive into a more premium market.

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  • Shopee to shut its Poland operations today

    Shopee to shut its Poland operations today

    Southeast Asia’s largest e-commerce firm Shopee will close its Polish operations from the end of Friday, Shopee Polska announced on its website on Thursday.

    “The fact itself is perhaps not a big surprise, since Shopee has already withdrawn from some of its markets, and a few months ago it cut some of its jobs in Poland, so the expectations were rather that they will leave the Polish market as well”, said Wood&Co analyst Lukasz Wachelko.

    Shopee has been operating in Poland since the autumn of 2021.

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  • Amazon CEO says job cuts to exceed 18,000 roles

    Amazon CEO says job cuts to exceed 18,000 roles

    Amazon.com’s layoffs will now stretch to more than 18,000 roles as part of a workforce reduction it previously disclosed, Chief Executive Andy Jassy said in a public staff note on Wednesday.

    The layoff decisions, which Amazon will communicate starting January 18, will largely impact the company’s e-commerce and human-resources organizations, he said.

    The cuts amount to 6 per cent of Amazon’s roughly 300,000-person corporate workforce and represent a swift turn for a retailer that recently doubled its base pay ceiling to compete more aggressively for talent.

    Jassy said in the note that annual planning “has been more difficult given the uncertain economy and that we’ve hired rapidly over the last several years.”

    Amazon has more than 1.5 million workers including warehouse staff, making it America’s second-largest private employer after Walmart it has braced for likely slower growth as soaring inflation encouraged businesses and consumers to cut back spending and its share price has halved in the past year.

    It began letting staff go in November from its devices division, with a source telling Reuters at the time it was targeting 10,000 job cuts.

    In number, its layoffs now surpass the 11,000 job cuts at Facebook-parent Meta Platforms Inc as well as reductions at other tech-industry peers.

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  • Amazon taxes 10 million products in Vietnam

    Amazon taxes 10 million products in Vietnam

    Vietnamese vendors have sold nearly 10 million products on Amazon this year, totaling an export value over 45% more than 2021, according to a report by the American e-commerce giant.

    During the pandemic, there were “thousands” of Vietnamese vendors on Amazon, and their top-selling products were in the categories of kitchen ware, home appliances, garment and textile and healthcare.

    Several Vietnamese brands such as AnEco (maker of compostable garbage bags), Lafooco (cashew exporter), Sunhouse (home appliances manufacturer) and HMG (3D card manufacturer) have been hailed by Amazon for succeeding in their e-commerce initiatives and creating jobs for locals.

    Nguyen Le Thang Long, deputy director of An Phat, which makes AnEco products, said that sales through Amazon have surged nearly five times from 2021.

    Phung Minh Thuy, founder of HMG, said that her company receives hundreds of orders through Amazon each day.

    Vietnam ranks fifth among the top 10 markets globally in terms of e-commerce and retail sales growth at 19%, behind the Philippines, India, Indonesia and Brazil, according to market research firm eMarketer.

    Vietnam’s e-commerce exports revenue is set to rise 20% annually between 2021 and 2026, according to consultancy firm AlphaBeta.

    With a strong national policy to support exports, abundant production capacity, and rapid development of e-commerce, Vietnam is at a golden stage for online exports to take off, said Gijae Seong, managing director of Amazon Global Selling Vietnam.

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  • Vietnamese firm sues Amazon for $280M

    Vietnamese firm sues Amazon for $280M

    Vietnamese company Gilimex Inc. is suing e-commerce giant Amazon for $280 million for allegedly cutting back on orders, leaving it with an excess inventory.

    Gilimex, a manufacturer of textile and other products based in Ho Chi Minh City, said in a filling in a New York state court on Monday that it has been partnering with Amazon from 2014 to 2022 and has invested tens of millions of dollars in manufacturing facilities to build the steel-and-cloth storage pods used to organize inventory in Amazon warehouses.

    Gilimex said the partnership was built on “trust,” with Gilimex relying on the accuracy of Amazon forecasts to make adequate investments to meet demand, including procuring materials and arranging factory capacity and manpower to meet the American company’s needs.

    But beginning in April, Amazon “immediately changed and reduced the projected demand” for the remainder of 2022 and 2023 to a small fraction of previous forecasts, according to the lawsuit.

    “Thus, while Amazon enjoyed unprecedented increases in revenue during the pandemic due in large part to the explosion of online ordering by consumers from the safety and comfort of their homes,” said the legal complaint, “Gilimex management and laborers literally risked their lives on a daily basis to make such record growth a reality.”

    The Vietnamese company said it employs 7,000 employees in multiple factories to produce more than 1 million warehouse storage units annually, adding that production for Amazon increased 20-fold during the eight-year relationship.

    Gilimex was established in 1982. Its main products include fabric storage organization, home textiles, laundry baskets, duffel bags, backpacks, and outdoor textile products.

    Around 85% of Gilimex’s export revenue has come from Amazon, which ordered $146.6 million worth of products from the company last year, according to Mirae Asset Vietnam Research.

    Gilimex earned a record revenue of VND4 trillion ($170.03 million) last year, up nearly 16% from 2020.

  • E-commerce giant Carousell lays off 110 staff

    E-commerce giant Carousell lays off 110 staff

    Carousell, a Singaporean consumer-to-consumer (C2C) service platform operating across Southeast Asia, is letting go of about 110 employees, or 10% of its total headcount, to reduce costs amid a challenging market condition for the tech industry. 

    The announcement came from the company’s blog on Thursday, posted by co-founder and CEO of Carousell Siu Rui Quek, saying, “I take responsibility for the decisions that have led us here. Parting with teammates, whom we are grateful to for joining us on this mission, is a very difficult decision.” 

    Carousell did not specify which business units or regional offices would be affected by the layoffs. The Singapore-headquartered company operates in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. 

    In the statement, the company’s leaders had discussed finding ways, including moving to an inexpensive rental office and slashing co-founders and executives’ salaries voluntarily to save budgets without cutting staff. But that was “far from enough,” it said.  

    Quek also explained in the blog post that he “was too optimistic” about the recovery from the COVID pandemic and even doubled down on recruitment and investment for its business. “The reality is that we were quick to grow our expenses and hire, but the returns took longer than expected,” Quek wrote. “It is important to act swiftly, course correct, and right-size our investment levels to better align with this new reality.” 

    The affected workers will receive at least three months’ salary and be able to extend their medical benefits and insurance coverage through June next year. According to the statement, the company will also pay out all remaining time off balances and offer career counseling and job search support, letting those laid-off workers keep their office laptop and LinkedIn Learning membership until June 2023. 

    Founded in 2012, Carousell, backed by Sequoia Capital India, Naver, 500 Global and Rakuten Capital, has raised a total of $372.6 million since its inception.