Ecommerce News - 19th to 25th Aug

1.      AliExpress opens first physical store in Europe

The big news of the week in Ecommerce was the move from Aliexpress in the physical retail in Europe. The amount of Digitally Native Brands (DNB) opening physically locations have been growing significantly in the last years and is projected to continue. While Amazon has invested in physical retail with Whole Food, Amazon Go & Amazon 4 stars stores, we are now seeing Alibaba going a similar path globally with the first opening of Aliexpress physical location in Europe. This is following numerous DNB which have opens such as : Allbirds, Casper, Wayfair, Everlane, Away, Peloton to name a few.

2. Target’s sales boosted by digital channel and enhanced fulfillment options

The second big news was the great quarterly results from Target on their ecommerce sales, digital channel sales grew 34 percent in their second quarter. Shares hit record high with a 20% gain on results announcement day.

3. Brazil's government to announce privatisation of Correios | Post & Parcel

The postal service is a critical aspect of ecommerce, more than 50% of global ecommerce is transported through the postal services across the globe. This move from the Brazilian government will be an exciting opportunity to see how the service levels would be affected in one of the most promising ecommerce market in the globe

4. ThredUp get $175M on second hand clothing

The topic of Recommerce has been increasingly important for many brands. With growth of “RESALE AS A SERVICE” model, many companies are looking at reducing waste and offering an alternative and second life for many of the products we consume…

5. Stock of the week: Target (TGT)

The stock came at record high last week driven by Digital sales. The fight between the retail powerhouse is on and companies like Target are competing strongly and leveraging effectively their huge store network. In June, the company announced a same-day delivery option for 65,000 items through its Shipt delivery unit, which it acquired in 2017. Target charges an annual fee of $99 for the service, which is available in 1,500 stores in 47 states.

Enjoy!

Cheers, Nabil