Let's talk Marketplace

If you follow the marketplace news item by item every week, it’s easy to lose sight of how much is shifting at the same time. That’s why Ingrid and Valerie take a step back in this episode and put October’s developments into context – partly for Valerie, who admits she has mostly just skimmed the news in recent weeks.What mattered:AI shopping: ChatGPT gets an official buy box, OTTO opens its catalogue via an interface, and European marketplaces still barely show up in AI answers.Shein and Temu: Shein reports its first-ever decline in both profit and revenue, while Temu rises to number one in several European countries.Amazon in Q4: The logistics surcharge goes up, and Returnless Resolutions bring a new opt-in. Who is it worth it for?Expansion wave: new marketplace launches, from ABOUT YOU in Romania and Kaufland in Spain to OTTO opening up to Austrian sellers.An episode for everyone who wants to keep the big picture in view amid the day-to-day business.Note from the sponsor Allegro:Planning your expansion across Europe? Then it’s worth looking east as well. Allegro is the leading marketplace in Poland and now also operates in Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary, with around 21 million active buyers in total. For 2026, Allegro expects its international business to grow by 65 to 75 percent. In our marketplace portrait, we show which sellers the move pays off for, how shipping with Smart! and One Fulfillment works and which onboarding programmes are available. 👉 Read the full Allegro portrait! For brands that want to dig deeper, we’re hosting the webinar “How Brands Grow on Allegro” on November 18. 👉 Register for the webinar – or watch the recording later.

Glass is one of the least forgiving products to sell online: it’s fragile, often heavy and not particularly expensive per piece. On top of that comes the question of who actually decides where your glasses show up online, at what price and next to which lookalike. Valerie and Ingrid discuss this with Bettina Proft. She heads e-commerce at Stölzle Lausitz, a glassmaker since 1889, and after years in the French e-commerce scene, she is bringing a B2B brand to private customers.How Stölzle manages its brand when retailers set the prices and its glasses end up on more than 100 marketplacesWhy lookalikes are a bigger problem than counterfeitsGlass breakage, infrequent repeat purchases and logistics being rebuilt for D2CHow to bring e-commerce into a traditional company with a small team – and what AI assistants change about itFor everyone bringing a long-established brand to marketplaces and wanting to stay in charge of it there.Note from the sponsor Allegro:Planning your expansion across Europe? Then it’s worth looking east as well. Allegro is the leading marketplace in Poland and now also operates in Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary, with around 21 million active buyers in total. For 2026, Allegro expects its international business to grow by 65 to 75 percent.In our marketplace portrait, we show which sellers the move pays off for, how shipping with Smart! and One Fulfillment works and which onboarding programmes are available. 👉 Read the full Allegro portrait: https://marketplace-universe.com/marketplace-portrait-allegro/For brands that want to dig deeper, we’re hosting the webinar “How Brands Grow on Allegro” on November 18. 👉 Register for the webinar – and watch the recording later: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0glR_zzBQ8mELj9swRFtNA#/registration

When people talk about Turkey and Europe, they usually mean exports to Europe. Yaman Alpata of MegaMerchant sees business increasingly flowing the other way as well. He knows the market from his time at Trendyol, Hepsiburada and AliExpress, and today as a seller. With Ingrid, he discusses why Turkey is becoming attractive for European brands right now – and what they need to prepare for.In this episode:Market size, growth and a young, mobile customer base: why Turkish e-commerce is structurally interestingThe lira’s real-terms strength: a tailwind for imports – and how long it is likely to last politicallyCampaigns, brand awareness, “Made in Europe” and low return rates: how Turkish shoppers buyTrendyol, Hepsiburada, Amazon – and entering the market via a local partnerFor anyone looking for a new sales market for their brand on Europe’s doorstep.

Medisana sells on around 30 marketplaces across Europe. In Benelux, however, the brand first had to learn how high Dutch customers' expectations for delivery times really are. Ingrid and Valerie talk with Martijn Paas, who knows Medisana's marketplace business inside out from his time in the Benelux team, and Patricia Lay, who helps international sellers get started on bol.In this episode:Why moving the top sellers to bol's logistics service increased turnover fivefold, according to MartijnHow Medisana found the right logistics provider after a partner went bankruptHow the vendor and seller businesses run in parallel – and why your own resellers can turn into competitorsWhat customers in Benelux expect beyond fast deliveryWhy you should realistically expect at least a year before seeing successThis episode is for every brand looking to enter Benelux via bol.Note from the sponsor TikTok Shop:Thinking about joining TikTok Shop but not sure where to start? Unlike many traditional marketplaces, TikTok Shop's account management team is genuinely easy to reach directly – so don't hesitate to ask them questions. If you'd rather read up first, the free TikTok Shop Seller Academy covers exactly what sellers ask most: how to register, what your first 30 days should look like, what to sell, and how to run your first live session without panicking. It also includes a Growth Center with seller missions, guidance on affiliate marketing, and practical tips on avoiding stockouts once orders pick up. Get started with TikTok Shop here: TikTok Shop Academy and Contact to the Business Development.

Does EU Regulation Work Against Shein & Temu? We Agree to Disagree — Live from DMEXCO #LTM165 A year ago, many retailers were calling on the state to rein in Temu and Shein. Valerie and Ingrid were sceptical at the time. Now the first EU rules are in force, and the question is back on the table: Is regulation actually working after all? In their first-ever live episode, recorded right in the middle of DMEXCO, the two assess the first signals – and reach different verdicts.What it's about:What changes with the flat customs duty of €3 per product category and the handling fee from November – and what the planned European Product Act could mean for marketplacesFirst effects: fewer parcels in Hungary and France, Shein's slowing growth and the expansion of its marketplace businessWhy small and mid-sized brands, of all players, could end up among the losers of regulationWhy TikTok Shop is being celebrated while calls for stricter rules on Temu and Shein are growing louderFor everyone in the European marketplace business who needs to assess what the new EU rules mean in concrete terms for competition, margins and expansion.