UK E-commerce News

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• October 2023: Square Capital LLC announced the debut of Tap to Pay on iPhone in Australia, where Square would make the technology available to its sellers. Tap to Pay on iPhone is available in the Square Point of Sale, Square for Retail, and Square Appointments iOS apps. It allows vendors of all sizes to accept contactless payments directly from their iPhones, with no additional hardware required or expense.
• July 2023: Grow Finance announced that the company partnered with Pismo to issue new Mastercard credit cards for small businesses in Australia. This new offer gives business owners better cash flow, management, and capital to help them improve their businesses.
• April 2023: Stripe announced the launch of unified commerce solutions for Australia. Through this, businesses of all sizes can accept in-person payments using the Stripe Terminal SDK and Tap to Pay on Android or Stripe Readers to unify online and in-person commerce with a single integration.

• June 2024: Kuehne+Nagel initiated the construction of a new fulfillment and distribution center in EZDubai, a prominent e-commerce hub within Dubai South. The chosen location is adjacent to Al Maktoum International Airport and linked to Jebel Ali Port via a bonded logistics corridor.
• October 2023: Calibrate Commerce, a Dubai-based e-commerce expert, unveiled Calibrate Labs, an incubator tailored for homegrown e-commerce enterprises in MENA. The initiative targets start-ups aiming to develop their own ideas or scale their existing ventures.

• April 2024: Worldline, a global firm in payment services, and Tabesto, a player in order-taking and payment solutions for the restaurant industry, proudly unveil the industry's first all-in-one ordering and payment kiosk. This innovative kiosk leverages SoftPOS 'Worldline Tap on Mobile' technology. By merging Worldline's vast payment expertise with Tabesto's kiosk development skills, this partnership aims to redefine the customer experience. The 'FOX' ordering and payment kiosk, seamlessly integrating with the Tabesto application environment, transforms into a fully functional payment terminal thanks to its embedded payment application.
• October 2023: The State Bank of India (SBI) has introduced a 'Mobile Handheld Device' to offer banking services to its financially inclusive customers. This step aims to improve accessibility and convenience for customers in availing banking services and providing bank kiosks at customershome. This device will significantly enhance banking accessibility by bringing kiosk banking directly to the customer's doorstep. It will provide greater flexibility to customer service point (CSP) agents, allowing them to reach out to customers wherever they may be. This initiative will particularly benefit customers who face difficulty accessing CSP outlets.

• January 2023: Samsung unveiled plans to expand the availability of the Samsung Wallet app to eight additional countries, with Singapore being among them. This versatile wallet application was introduced as a unified platform, offering users a secure storage solution for their digital keys, boarding passes, identification cards, and various other documents on their mobile devices.
• July 2022: Google Wallet was introduced as a standalone app for users in Singapore, providing a complementary experience to Google Pay. This digital wallet, designed for Android and Wear OS, aimed to streamline the process of saving and accessing essential items, including vaccine cards, event tickets, boarding passes, and loyalty cards.

• March 2024: Amazon launched Amazon Business, a dedicated business-to-business (B2B) platform in Mexico. This move is part of Amazon's strategy to cater to businesses of all sizes in Mexico, aligning with the sector's growth trajectory. Businesses on the B2B platform in Mexico are anticipated to benefit from exclusive business pricing on a vast array of products, the flexibility of single or multi-user corporate accounts, and tailored customer service. These features are designed to streamline supply chains, enabling businesses to focus on their core objectives.
• April 2024: Kueski, a prominent buy now, pay later (BNPL) and online consumer lender in Latin America, has unveiled plans to roll out an in-store version of Kueski Pay. This in-store feature was planned to be accessible to all consumers by the end of Q2 2024. Through this innovative offering, customers in Mexico can seamlessly conduct transactions via the Kueski mobile app, even without an active internet connection, while shopping in brick-and-mortar stores. Kueski aims to forge stronger ties between millions of consumers and local merchants.

• May 2024 - Metapack, a prominent player in e-commerce delivery technology, announced that Mountain Warehouse, a significant outdoor clothing company in the United Kingdom, extended its partnership with Metapack to enhance its delivery capabilities and support its growth strategy. Already utilizing Metapack Delivery Manager, Mountain Warehouse incorporated Metapack’s Delivery Options and Metapack Intelligence solutions into its operations. This investment in shipping infrastructure aims to deliver superior e-commerce experiences to customers across the United Kingdom and Canada.
• March 2024 - Kin + Carta, a global player in digital transformation consulting, introduced an advanced generative AI and large language model (LLM) tool for the UK retailer Matalan. This innovative tool enables Matalan to efficiently generate comprehensive product descriptions for new items as they are added to its online inventory.

• July 2024: Wayfair announced a clearance sale in Canada. Through this sale, the company offered deals with up to 70% off on products used in bedrooms, home offices, or storage and organization. These included new sofas, coffee tables, tableware, décor, and lighting.
• March 2024: Amazon announced the launch of a new Big Spring Sale in Canada. This sale promoted seasonal items in Canada. Under this sale, Amazon customers would be able to select from a range of products, including Echo and Kindle devices. Prime members would enjoy exclusive deals.

• May 2024: Malaysia and Amazon boosted their partnership to improve cross-border e-commerce development due to increased demand from Malaysian businesses. The goal is to promote cross-border e-commerce, support Malaysian brand owners in launching their businesses with Amazon, and showcase more Malaysian brands and products to US customers.
• February 2024: ZALORA, known as Asia's Fashion Expert, introduced the ZALORAYA 2024 campaign with an engaging experience, promising to highlight fashion clothing, accessories, beauty items, and traditional attire. It showcases Malaysia's diverse cultural richness and features two Indonesian brands, Ria Atelier and Embara. These brands were well-received, and they are anticipated to enthrall the Malaysian and Singaporean markets with their distinctive incorporation of various designs and cultural elements, infusing an international vibe into the festivities.

• June 2024: GBLagos Art and Lifestyle, a Nigerian startup, unveiled ekoartmarket.com, an e-commerce platform to globalize African art. The company views this move as a pivotal step in its quest to democratize African art and uplift local artisans.
• February 2024: Zandaux, a B2B platform, expanded its reach by launching an e-commerce marketplace in Nigeria and Kenya. Embracing a "one Africa, one market" ethos, Zandaux empowers businesses and merchants from diverse sectors to reach customers across the continent.

• March 2024: The South Korean e-commerce company Coupang Corp. announced an investment of USD 2.23 billion over the next three years to expand its "rocket delivery" service across South Korea by setting up over eight fulfillment centers to serve as logistical hubs for fast delivery to boost efficiency and reliability in its operations by leveraging advanced automation.
• March 2024: The Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group planned to spend USD 200 million in 2024 on building the logistics center and USD 100 million to help small and mid-sized South Korean firms sell their products overseas, within its vision of investing USD 1.1 billion in South Korea over the next three years to build a logistics center and expand businesses, which shows the growth potential of the e-commerce sector in the country.