The Order : Weekly Aggregator Roundup - Razor Group & Valoreo 🎁

Chart of the Week

In his annual must-read Marketplace Pulse "Year in Review 2022", Juozas Kaziukenas offers a detailed analysis of core areas of eCommerce and retail trends of the year. The analysis kicks off with an analysis of digital sales and digitally influenced sales:

Digital- & digitally influenced sales [Marketplace Pulse]

New funding this week: $ 70M

Funding Craze 💰

• EU: Razor Group wraps up the year on a high note with a $70M equity investment by L Catterton (other investments include SellerX, Dragonfly, Nebula) and the following acquisition of Latam-focused aggregator Valoreo [PR Newswire]

Movers & Shakers 🤝

• US: Solo Brands - "Fired By New Product Innovation, Solo Brands Shines Bright A Year After Its IPO" -- note: the equity market doesn't buy it quite yet (stock is -77% YoY) [Forbes]

• India: Mensa Brands acquires MensXP, Hypp and iDiva from Times Internet [Economic Times]

Strategy 📈

• Changes coming for Third Party Sellers (this time in their favor): "Antitrust: Commission accepts commitments by Amazon barring it from using marketplace seller data, and ensuring equal access to Buy Box and Prime" [European Commission]

• Seller feedback: "Amazon Briefing: Overseas sellers are cautiously optimistic about new EU changes" [Modern Retail]

• Potentially further massive marketplace implications ahead: "Amazon may be responsible for allowing Louboutin knock-off ads, EU court says" [Reuters]

• "How Amazon Fits Into the New DTC Playbook" [Business of Fashion]

• "Amazon Looks to Sell Excess Air Cargo Space as Demand Cools" [Bloomberg]

• Part 3 of the Aggregator rant: "Cheap Replaceable Products Don't Make for a Happy Aggregator" [Linkedin]

• Price.com, Fetch, Upside: "Inflation-Battered Shoppers Turn to Apps for Savings" [Bloomberg]

• eCommerce is outpacing pre-covid forecasts: "The Demise Of E-Commerce Is Greatly Exaggerated" [Forbes]

• "How Shopify’s Leadership Has Transformed to Battle the E-Commerce Slump" [The Information]

• "TikTok Owner Now Aiming to Expand Into U.S. Enterprise Software Market" [The Information]

Events 🎤

• eCom Camp, Jan 8-10, Orlando, FL

• Prosper Show, Mar 13-15, Las Vegas, NV

Enjoy the holidays 🎄

Christian