The Order : Weekly Aggregator Roundup - The Offline Edition
Topic of the week: Amazon's offline world
With cashier-less grocery stores, a physical bookstore and stores to highlight top seller products Amazon has already started tapping into the offline world a few years ago across US locations and select international locations. Now plans for a larger store footprint were revealed... this may also be an increasing gateway for marketplace sellers to leverage.
Initial large physical store openings by Amazon are planned for California and Ohio: "Amazon Plans to Open Large Retail Locations Akin to Department Stores" [WSJ | Reuters]
"Amazon conquered Sears, It's also following it's footsteps" [Bloomberg]
Amazon Partners are weighting in: "Kohl’s CEO says rumored Amazon department stores won’t ruin its relationship with the e-commerce giant" [CNBC]
New funding this week: $0
Funding Craze 💰
New rounds are in the making, but no new announcements this week - the first week without a round since June 28
Strategy 📈
Amazon updates it's claims coverage and eases processes for sellers for claims below $1k: "A-to-Z Guarantee to cover property damage and personal injury" [Amazon]
UK Seller stats: The UK has 13,483 UK Amazon active sellers with close to £2.5 billion ($3.44BN) monthly sales representing 5.5% of the entire UK retail (including fuel) sector’s turnover in June [Retail Tech Innovation Hub]
🎤 First aggregator pitch day - Sep 23 2021 in Berlin - organized by the German eCommerce Association [Bundesverband Onlinehandel]
Let's make this week count,
Christian