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TODAY’S MAZE
Happy Thursday! Europe wants to tax every parcel, delivery apps want to charge every shopper, and marketers want to track every click again. Regulation, convenience, and measurement — three forces reshaping how goods move and money flows. The race isn’t for speed anymore, it’s for control.
Maze Focus🌀
📦 One Tax to Rule Deliveries
🤖 Gen Z’s Growing Trust Gap in AI
🛒 AI Shopping Assistants Need Real Controls
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Last week handpicked news you need to know
🍔 Delivery & eGrocery briefing
🚚 Ecommerce Logistics briefing
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- Artur Stańczuk, MarketMaze Founder
🌀 MAZE STORY
📦 One Tax to Rule Deliveries
The Maze: Europe wants to end the Wild West of parcel imports. Retailers are pushing for one EU-wide fee instead of a patchwork of national taxes.
In October 2025, EuroCommerce urged Brussels to adopt a single handling fee for parcels coming from outside the EU, warning that national fees would fragment the single market.
The European Commission plans a €2 fee on parcels shipped directly to EU consumers and €0.50 on those routed through EU warehouses starting March 2028.
EU customs handled 4.6 billion imported parcels in 2024, 91% from China through platforms like Shein and Temu.
Why it matters: A unified fee would protect EU retailers from cheap imports while avoiding chaos at customs. Without it, member states risk creating 27 different systems that punish small sellers and confuse consumers.
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🌀 MAZE STORY
🤖 Gen Z’s Growing Trust Gap in AI
The Maze: Gen Z’s adoption of AI is skyrocketing, but trust isn’t following. The generation most fluent in technology is also the most skeptical about its impact on work and fairness. The insight: trust is growing slower than usage, creating a widening credibility gap.
Dunnhumby’s data shows Gen Z adoption jumping from roughly one-third to nearly 60% in two years, while trust stays near 25%. The divide is clear: use grows, belief stalls.
Older generations show steadier progress, with both adoption and trust rising modestly. Gen Z uses AI more but questions its motives more deeply, especially where automation replaces people.
Consumers still prefer AI that improves grocery basics—saving money, eating healthier, personalizing choices—over chatbots or robots that feel impersonal.
Why it matters: Without trust, adoption is just hype. Turning AI from clever tools into trusted helpers creates repeat use and measurable loyalty.
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💎 DATA TREASURE
🛒 AI Shopping Assistants Need Real Controls
The Maze: Consumers will let AI make purchases only if they can clearly control it. The PwC data shows users want predictability—guardrails before convenience.
Across generations, 29% want pre-approval, 28% want automatic refunds for mistakes, and 25% want the right to revoke access anytime. These protections define comfort.
Gen Z is the most vocal: over 40% prioritize refund guarantees, showing they’re open to automation but not to risk.
Beyond the chart, customers now expect AI to behave like a financial partner—responsible, transparent, and easy to stop when needed.
Why it matters: AI shopping adoption won’t grow on novelty. It will grow on trust, clarity, and user control.
📰 Briefing
🍔 Last week in Delivery & eGrocery
🇦🇪 Amazon Now launches 15-min delivery in UAE. Amazon expands its ultra-fast service to the Gulf, targeting affluent shoppers with 15-minute deliveries and deeper regional reach.
🇹🇷 Getir faces alleged data breach. Hackers claim access to internal systems, exposing emails and workspaces, though Getir says no customer data was compromised.
🇺🇸 Grubhub pilots robot delivery with Avride. The companies test self-driving robots in New Jersey after 100k successful campus deliveries to cut delivery costs and expand automation beyond universities.
🇬🇧 Lidl rolls out in-app payments. Shoppers can now pay directly through the Lidl Plus app, boosting digital engagement, improving loyalty tracking, and enabling faster checkouts.
🇮🇳 Swiggy and magicpin see festive surge. Food orders jump up to 2.5x during Navratri and Dussehra, led by metros as India’s festive delivery boom hits new highs across major cities.
🇮🇳 Meesho to raise $484M in IPO. The e-commerce firm’s fundraising signals investor faith in India’s online retail momentum and positions Meesho as one of the year’s biggest tech listings.
🇩🇪 HelloFresh partners with Paramount. The meal-kit giant launches movie-themed recipes to tie dining and streaming, merging entertainment and mealtime in a fresh subscriber push.
📰 Briefing
🚚Last week in Ecommerce Logistics
🇬🇧 UK parcel lockers expand nationwide. Locker installations soar across Britain as couriers race to cut failed deliveries and emissions, reshaping last-mile convenience for shoppers.
🇩🇪 Zalando adds AI robots in warehouses. The fashion giant partners with Nomagic to automate sorting and packing, boosting speed and reducing labor strain across European logistics hubs.
🇺🇸 US Customs tightens parcel screening. Customs has flagged nearly 24 million parcels once duty-free, targeting low-value imports from Asia and closing loopholes that favored Chinese sellers.
🇨🇿 DPD and GLS open shared lockers. The Czech networks now interoperate, letting customers use either brand’s lockers, a first for Europe’s crowded delivery market.
🇹🇷 Türkiye curbs Chinese e-commerce imports. New rules hit Temu, AliExpress, and Shein, tightening customs checks to protect local retailers and reduce cheap fast imports flooding the market.
✈️ FedEx boosts APAC-Europe air capacity. Five new weekly flights connect Hong Kong, Singapore, and Paris, strengthening trade routes and speeding up delivery for cross-continental e-commerce.
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