The Order : Weekly Aggregator Roundup - OpenStore

Sep 25, 2022

Chart of the week #1: Ads

The Economist highlights the changes in the ad market with Amazon, TikTok and Apple expanding their share in "The $300bn Google-Meta advertising duopoly is under attack".

The World Container Index dipped 10% this week signaling weaker demand - in a relief to easing shipping costs.

Funding Craze 💰

US: Shopify-brand aggregator OpenStore announced a $32M round led by Lux Capital at a $970M valuation. The company continues to buy "multiple companies per week" [Techcrunch]

Movers & Shakers 🤝

US: Spreetail Acquires Ecommerce Performance Marketing Agency, Buy Box Experts, Strengthening Their Ecommerce Accelerator Capabilities [Business Wire]
India: Shoppers Stop and G.O.A.T Brand Labs sign exclusive partnership [Adgully]

Strategy 📈

"Companies that buy Amazon marketplace sellers suffer as dealmaking dries up" [Financial Times]
Boom and Bust of Amazon Aggregators [Marketplace Pulse]
A 'dystopian horror story.' Inside the thriving underground market for used Amazon seller accounts that's causing chaos, identity theft, and distrust in the company's massive online marketplace [Business Insider]
TikTok going viral: "D2C brands spent 231% more on TikTok in Q2" [Insider Intelligence]
Triple Whale Ad report ranks TikTok as the most valuable platform for DTC brands [Ad Age]
Block's Cash App Pay expands to outside retailers and payment processors as company targets 'superapp' status [Business Insider]
Instacart launches Connected Stores, a suite of in-store tech for retailers [Techcrunch]
"Walmart Launches Curbside Returns, Walmart+ Return Pickup From Home" [PYMNTS]
Financial planning seed funding: "Bainbridge Growth wants eCommerce brands to stop sales guessing game" [Techcrunch]

Events 🎤

Let's make this week count,

Christian