Electronics
Dutch electronics retailer Coolblue has expanded to Germany, with an e-commerce pilot in Düsseldorf launched today. The aim is to open physical stores soon as well.
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Fashion
German fashion webshop Zalando has lowered its first-quarter forecast, as its sales have dropped significantly due to the measures implemented in many European countries in the fight against the coronavirus.
Food
A remarkable alliance in these remarkable times: Aldi and McDonald's have agreed the discounter can take over staff from restaurants the fastfood chain had to close due to measures to stop the spread of the new coronavirus.
Internal documents have revealed that German company Karstadt, the parent of Hudson's Bay Netherlands, is considering closing the Dutch outlets or filing for bankruptcy.
German wholesaler Metro has had a mixed first quarter of its financial year 2018/19. While turnover went up slightly (on a comparable basis), profit went down. Western Europe saw strong performances.
What a start: Russian discounter Mere has had to close its first German store after just five days. Not due to a lack of customers, rather the contrary: suppliers could not handle the storming demand and the supermarket's shelves became empty.
Ceconomy, the owner of electronics chains MediaMarkt and Saturn, has appointed a new CEO and a new CFO. After the exit of Pieter Haas, Jörn Werner and Karin Sonnenmoser will take over.
Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky and Slovak investor Patrik Tkac may be making an offer to take over Metro soon: the two have already acquired portions of the holding behind the Metro and Makro chains.
German fashion chain Bonprix (a subsidiary of Otto Group) is opening an innovative test store on 14 February. The store, located in Hamburg, will allow customers to shop through an app - showing how digital shopping works in practice.
Amazon is introducing Continental Europe to its organic food label Whole Foods, at first to visitors to Amazon's sites in France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
General
Amazon's Dash buttons, which allow customers to order toilet paper or powder detergent at the push of a button, are illegal in Germany. This is the verdict of a German court, but Amazon refuses to leave it at that.
Alibaba heeft de Duitste dataspecialist Data Artisans gekocht. Het Chinese e-commercebedrijf werkte al met de software van het bedrijf, die vooral geschikt is om 'big data' te verwerken, en wil die nu verder helpen ontwikkelen.
Hard discounters Aldi and Lidl are being challenged in Germany: a new competitor claims to be 20 % cheaper: Russian price fighter Torgservis will open its first store in Leipzig on 29 January.
Geruchten over een overname door Alibaba stuwen de beurskoers van Zalando hoger: de Chinezen azen op Europese expansie en zeker ook op een bedrijf als Zalando, klinkt het. Loze gissingen of waarheid?
Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com needs to regain investor confidence and announced a major restructuring. In addition, the European expansion plans are also threatened: the future of a planned office in Germany has become very unsure.
German Schwan-Stabilo has managed to score a worldwide Christmas hit with its pastel-coloured markers. It was a Belgian idea that saved the German manufacturer.
