Marketplaces are Taking Over – Find Out How in Our Latest Podcast!

🎥 Podcast: Marketplaces in Central & Eastern Europe

👉 Why Alza🇨🇿 turned back from its marketplace model to focus on retail.

👉 Allegro's🇵🇱 ambitious attempts to dominate the CEE region and what’s driving their strategy.

👉 Speculation around soft launch of Allegro.de🇩🇪

👉 Why more brands from the West🇪🇺 are increasingly interested in expanding into this region.

How is Amazon performing in smaller European markets?

Unlike its aggressive early success in Germany, Amazon has taken a more measured approach in countries like Poland, Sweden, and the Netherlands. While it isn’t always number one, Amazon is growing steadily without trying to dominate at all costs.

Unlike its aggressive early success in Germany, Amazon has taken a more measured approach in countries like Poland, Sweden, and the Netherlands. While it isn’t always number one, Amazon is growing steadily without trying to dominate at all costs.

In Poland, Amazon ranks in the top 5, competing against Allegro, which remains the dominant player. In Sweden and the Netherlands, Amazon is in third place but is growing rapidly, especially with competitive Prime pricing and gradual market adaptation.

A significant portion of e-commerce in the Nordics and the Netherlands is cross-border, with many orders being fulfilled by Amazon.de. This cross-border effect strengthens Amazon's position in these smaller markets, even when it isn’t the local market leader.

Cross-Border marketplaces beats local competition…

✅ The left bar indicates a +6% growth in the broader EU e-commerce market, currently valued at €900 billion. By the way, the largest e-commerce market, 🇩🇪 grew by only +2.4%.

✅The right bar highlights a significant +32% growth in cross-border e-commerce, which just hit €330 billion.

✅ The graphic also shows that 70% of cross-border e-commerce sales are driven by marketplaces, compared to 40% for the broader EU e-commerce.

Big marketplace platforms can't show their true power on a smaller, local scale...

They shine on a larger territory...

That's why platforms are the best expansion vehicle for most brands...