Zalando says that packaging is an important part of the company’s vision to become the leading platform for sustainable fashion in Europe. This decision is partly based on a recent study on customer behaviour. The study shows that 75% of European consumers find that sustainable packaging influences their purchasing decisions.

Pilot project on reusable packaging

Zalando is already converting their Beauty Bags from plastic to paper. The company recently also introduced polybags that are made from 60% recycled plastic to protect its textiles. Now, they are working on a pilot project to see how they can work with reusable packaging.

Return packaging to Zalando

Zalando's customers will receive their orders in a transport box or bag. These boxes and bags are to be used many times for shipping or returns.  Zalando puzzles about both the use of materials and the organisation behind the initiative. The fashion platform will run the test in several European countries and will enable customers to return the packaging to Zalando to be used again. Zalando wants to start a pilot project for the reusable packaging this year.

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Online shopping has changed shopping behaviour drastically. The rise of e-commerce has challenged both B2B and B2C sellers to constantly adapt themselves to new trends, changing consumer demands and competitive pressure. Today, having an aged legacy commerce system implies a slow in business growth, because the lack of agility and scalability will become more expensive to operate and maintain. It will become harder to integrate evolving IT landscapes. So a state-of-the-art commerce platform is a must to survive in these challenging markets. Picking the right commerce platform for your organisation, however, is a challenge. Omnichannel e-commerce solution provider Intershop highlighted some reasons and risks of replatforming. In practice, there are five 'red flags' indicating that it is time to switch to a new system.

Replatforming Indicators

These indicators can be divided into the following categories:

1. Inadequate functionalities
   Does the shopping experience you offer meet the needs of your customer? You need a solution that can synchronise data in real time between your commerce platform and all channels and devices your customers use.
2. Growth limited by scalability issues
   B2B digital sales channels get bigger and bigger. An outdated system can no longer handle the increase in the number of products, visitors, orders and transactions.
3. Integration problems
   Your e-commerce solution needs data from other systems, such as inventory, payment and CRM systems. Automatic synchronisation is an important condition that an e-commerce platform must meet.
4. Unstable performance
   There are two preconditions you have to meet to offer a good digital user experience: continuous accessibility of the website and short loading times. Be sure the server hardware can handle this – or switch to a cloud-based solution.
5. Cost of ownership
   The total cost of ownership of a new platform can be lower than that of your old system.

Do you want to know more? Download the Intershop whitepaper on replatforming here.

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With sustainability being an increasingly important topic in fashion, the retailer couldn't have chosen a better time for the launch of Farfetch Second Life. This seems to be the perfect moment for the retailer to launch a platform that gives fashion items a second chance. This is not the only advantage, as the platform also gives the online retailer an opportunity to let customers shop with them again.

Used luxury market is growing rapidly

According to Giorgio Belloli, CCO at Farfetch, luxury fashion is increasingly being geared towards sustainable fashion. Because of this, resale is an area that is becoming more and more interesting to customers. Belloli says: "Like the online luxury market, the used luxury market grows rapidly. We expect it to double and reach more than 45 billion euros over the next five years.”

Farfetch accepts bags from 27 brands

The resale of designer handbags through the platform is currently only available for 27 brands. These brands include Alexander McQueen, Burberry, Louis Vuitton and Prada. The online fashion retailer does accept bags with minor imperfections. These can be light stains or small scratches. The platform won’t accept torn or discoloured items.

Farfetch Second Life currently covers the United Kingdom and Europe, with the exception of Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.

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This collaboration made it possible for the supermarket to officially launch its online sale of food and fresh products in Spain. The prices of the products are the same in store and online. At this point, the service covers only the shops in the centre of Madrid. However, this will soon be extended to supermarkets in the rest of the capital.

The rest of Spain follows

Lidl is currently testing the service in Madrid. When this is successful, the online sales of groceries will be extended to the other Spanish cities where Lola Market operates. This online food platform works with other supermarket chains to deliver groceries. Unlike most of these chains, Lidl will sell its products online at the same price as in store.

When Lidl customers buy groceries online, they can choose to receive their order at home the same day, within one hour or pick a different time. All orders have a fixed shipping fee (€4.90). This means that it doesn’t matter how many items a customer orders or what the volume of the purchase is.

Lidl understands shopper needs

Carlos González-Vilardell, Communications and Digital Director at Lidl, says the collaboration enables the German supermarket chain to learn more about the online sales of food. It will also enable the supermarket giant to better understand its shoppers’ needs. According to him, Lola Market has managed to stand out from other Spanish online sales platforms as the marketplace that offers the best shopping experience to its customers.

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Last Monday, April 8th, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced three new projects. These projects are set to achieve 100% renewable energy for its global infrastructure. These projects will take place in Ireland, Sweden and in the United States. The projects will deliver wind-generated energy that will total over 229 megawatts (MW) of power, with the expected generation of over 670,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of renewable energy annually.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Amazon Web Services is a subsidiary of Amazon. The company provides on-demand cloud computing platforms to individuals, companies and governments, on a metered pay-as-you-go basis. Netflix, Samsung, Philips and Expedia are amongst the companies using Amazon Web Services.

AWS' vice president of global infrastructure and customer support, Peter DeSantis, is convinced that each of these projects will bring the company closer to their long-term commitment to using 100% renewable energy to power their global AWS infrastructure. According to DeSantis, AWS expects to launch more similar projects in 2019 as they continue for the reason that they want to power all global infrastructure with renewable energy.

Amazon Shipment Zero

The move marks a following green initiative led by Amazon. Amazon recently announced Shipment Zero. Shipment Zero aims to make all Amazon shipments net zero carbon, with 50% of all shipments net zero by 2030.

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Spotify VS. Apple Music

Due to their free version, Spotify will likely be able to top Apple Music in overall users (both in the US and worldwide). Spotify already has far more international subscribers and active users worldwide than Apple Music. This is probably caused by Spotify's free, ad-supported tier. In the last quarter of 2018, Spotify reported 207 million active users worldwide, 96 million of which are paid subscriptions.

Meanwhile, Apple Music, which doesn't offer an ad-supported option, only has about 50 million subscribers worldwide. Spotify's free tier is likely key to converting users abroad. It provides an indefinite and low-risk way for users to test the app's interface and features before financially committing. Apple's chief advantage is its addressable base of iPhone users for whom the Apple Music app is pre-installed. Apple estimates there to be 101 million active iPhones in the US and nearly one billion worldwide. Apple may not offer a free version but they do offer a free three-month trial. The app is pre-installed on iPhones, which reduces friction and encourages sign-ups. Apple may also stand to lure more subscribers to its service through features like lyric-based song search and exclusive content launches.

Apple's Focus

Apple has been focused on increasing its services revenue as iPhone sales are not as promising as they once were. iPhone sales were 15% lower in 2018 than in 2017, while Services revenue (including Apple Music) increased by 87% to $37.2 billion in the same year.

Apple could bundle together some of its services like Apple Music, Apple News+, Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade to boost its recurring revenue and drive sales. Given Apple's approach with other services — which are largely subscription-based — it is unlikely that Apple will create an ad-supported option for its Music app. A services bundle, on the other hand, seems logical.

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Google launches a new gaming platform: Stadia. The platform is built on the Google Cloud Platform and games are streamed directly to a Chrome browser. This means that the player can play the games within five seconds, without download and installation. This new platform fits with Google's view on gaming: "The future of gaming no longer fits in a box".

Stadia works on desktops, laptops, smartphones and smart TVs. Users of the platform do not compromise on quality as, according to Google, the quality is the same as that of existing consoles. Google guarantees 4k, 60fps, HDR and surround-sound and 8k will be available in the longer term.

Google provides its own game controller that works via WiFi. Users can share their game via YouTube via a button and help can be requested via a microphone. However, other controllers should also work with the platform.

Test period

The platform has already been tested for six months as part of Project Stream. In those six months, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey from Unisoft could be played in the Chrome browser without any additional hardware.

Launch

Google plans to launch the platform during the course of this year. In the summer, Google will announce the names of the first game titles. The revenue model is not yet clear. A subscription model is not excluded.

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In this respect, JD.com has an advantage over their main competitor, Alibaba, as it has been investing in this network at an earlier stage of development. These days, JD.com is available to ship up to 90 percent of all products the same day, for delivery next day, even in more rural areas. Unliver is not the first European party that partners like this with the Chinese JD.com. Last year, French company Danone agreed to a similar partnership.

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The French e-commerce company announced that it can offer international delivery now in its financial report about the first half of 2018. Delivery times for the Italian and German market are 72 hours. In Belgium and Spain, products can be delivered within 48 hours.

Cdiscount also started to sell its products on local partner websites in those same 4 European countries. In addition, Cdiscount has partnered with ColisExpat to offer its customers delivery all around the world at preferential prices. The company also recently signed a strategic partnership with Mr. Bricolage in the Do-It-Yourself and Garden categories with the implementation of a joint-purchasing agreement.

The expansion news follows after Cdiscount revealed it achieved a 15 percent year-on-year growth in net sales, which are now worth 969 million euros. During Q2 of this year, Cdiscount counted 8.7 million active customers who have placed 5.8 million orders for 11 million items.

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The idea behind this investment is that JD.com will offer products to the consumer in the United States and Europe through Google Shopping. This means that offers on JD.com will be better accessible for consumers outside of Asia, as Google has a more prominent place in lots of these markets. As the United States and China are currently working on trade war, the timing of the investment is remarkable. Because of this trade war, the Chinese web giant has flattened their US-activities.

According to the Dutch news source NOS, the investment of Google does not mean that Google will start offering its services in China again. The American company is, since January 2010, no longer active in the Chinese mainland. Activities were relocated to Hongkong because of differences in opinion on online freedom and attacks by hackers. Since this argument, Google has been blocked in China.

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