A warehouse can change which orders a retailer imports one at a time. Shein’s €500 million expansion in Poland matters because stock cleared into the EU can reach shoppers without each delivery counting as a fresh import. That favors products retailers can sell predictably; slow-moving sizes still tie up cash. Amazon’s 2027 U.S. fee changes raise a related question: what will each item cost to ship, and how long will it sit in storage?
News
1️⃣ Shein plans a €500 million warehouse expansion in Poland
2️⃣ Amazon will raise U.S. fulfillment fees by 19 cents per item sold on average in 2027
3️⃣ Walmart and Zipline agree to add 300 U.S. drone delivery sites
Insights
4️⃣ Two Polish electronics retailers rank ahead of Temu, AliExpress and Amazon in online retail revenue estimates
5️⃣ TikTok Shop nearly matched Sephora in U.S. online personal-care sales in 2025
6️⃣ Amazon’s U.S. shoppers averaged 22 orders in 2025, versus about 15 at Walmart
LET’S ENTER THE MAZE!
1️⃣ News
The Maze: Shein, the online fashion retailer, says it will spend €500 million in 2026 to expand its warehouse network near Wrocław, Poland. For retailers selling into the EU, the expansion sharpens a choice about which products to stock locally and which to ship from abroad after each order.
Source: SHEIN via Wrocław. Robots move yellow stock totes through Shein’s warehouse in Kąty Wrocławskie, Poland.
The Details:
The warehouse network is already operating. Shein says the expansion will bring its investment in Poland since 2022 to about €1 billion. It says shoppers in some European markets can receive goods stocked at the hub within 48 hours. Wrocław municipal portal
Direct imports have become more expensive. The EU introduced a temporary €3 duty per product category in qualifying shipments worth €150 or less in July. In November it added a separate €2 customs handling fee on qualifying imports sold to EU shoppers. European Commission customs guidance
Stock can clear customs before anyone buys it. A retailer can bring in goods in bulk and pay any applicable duties when they enter the EU. Once cleared, the goods can ship from Poland to EU shoppers as orders come in without each delivery being treated as a new import.
MarketMaze Take: Stocking inside the EU makes most sense for products a retailer can reliably sell. It can shorten delivery times and reduce reliance on individual imports, but it also means paying for goods and warehouse space up front. That can leave slow-selling sizes and colors sitting on shelves. Watch how many products Shein can actually deliver faster, and where. That will show how much of its range benefits from the Polish expansion.
2️⃣ News
The Maze: Amazon is raising U.S. fulfillment fees by 19 cents per item sold on average in 2027. The fees apply to sellers who use Fulfillment by Amazon to store their products and pack and ship orders. Most changes start January 15.
The Details:
Each product has its own rate. Amazon says some fees will fall and others will rise, depending on the product, its size and its price. Sellers can use Amazon’s fee comparison dashboard to see what changes for individual products. Amazon says the changes bring rates closer to what each product costs to ship. Its existing fuel and logistics surcharge stays in place.
Storage will depend on how long goods sit. On February 1, Amazon will drop one storage surcharge and fold the separate charge for older stock into its monthly storage rate. In its notice to sellers, Amazon says storage will cost the same or less for stock that sells in under six months. Older stock will cost more.
Amazon will change how it measures low stock. Today it uses sales from the previous 30 and 90 days to assess its low-inventory fee. From February 1, it will use actual shipments in the four weeks before and the four weeks after it assesses stock. The fee can apply only below 28 days of supply. Amazon says the later shipments help it tell a brief sales spike from sustained demand. Its notice leaves the calculation unspecified, including what happens if only one period points to fewer than 28 days of stock.
MarketMaze Take: Work out the shipping fee and expected storage time for each product together. A seller whose stock moves quickly may mostly feel the shipping increase. For a seller still holding unsold goods months later, storage can add to the cost even if the product’s shipping rate barely changes.
3️⃣ News
The Maze: Walmart has agreed with Zipline, a drone delivery operator, to add 300 US sites over several years. It wants more shoppers to use Walmart for small orders they need quickly. The companies have yet to say where or when individual sites will open.
Source: Zipline press kit. A Zipline delivery pod hangs from its cable above a Walmart parcel on a backyard patio.
The Details:
The option appears for eligible addresses. Walmart says customers can choose drone delivery in its app or on its website, order eligible items and track the flight. Zipline’s aircraft hovers over the address and lowers a pod carrying the order on a cable into a yard or driveway.
Coverage depends on which sites open. A nearby Walmart store gives the retailer a place to start, but customers need an operating drone site that can reach their address. The US aviation regulator requires permission to use the relevant airspace. Local rules also affect where operators can set up.
The partnership already has a track record. Walmart and Zipline began making deliveries together in 2021. Walmart now reports more than two million drone deliveries across its program, which uses multiple operators. Where the option is available, Walmart says eligible orders can arrive in as little as 30 minutes.
MarketMaze Take: Walmart is going after the purchase that might otherwise send you to the nearest shop for one missing ingredient. Having that item in stock nearby matters as much as the flight. If the option appears in Walmart’s checkout and can deliver in time, the retailer has a shot at winning that order. Watch whether enough eligible households order again to justify running each site.
4️⃣ Insight
The Maze: Poland’s ecommerce ranking puts two electronics retailers ahead of Temu, AliExpress and Amazon. Local specialists remain central to the market alongside international platforms.
Electronics retailers take second and third. PMR Market Experts’ 2026 estimates rank online retail revenue in the product categories covered by its report. Allegro is first, Media Expert second and RTV Euro AGD third; Temu, AliExpress and Amazon follow. These positions show order, not the size of any sales gap.
Category focus remains visible further down. Pet-products seller zooplus is twelfth and automotive specialist Oponeo thirteenth, while clothing seller SHEIN is eighteenth. International platforms therefore do not occupy one uniform competitive position. Brands choosing sales channels need to compare relevant specialists as well as broad marketplaces.
Familiar labels hide different selling models. Empik, Sinsay, Zalando and morele combine online shops with marketplaces for other sellers. Amazon’s estimate includes other Amazon domains. Rossmann is nineteenth in cosmetics, following the analyst’s correction. The ranking compares a mixture of businesses, rather than twenty equivalent shops.
Why it matters: Poland’s revenue ranking supports considering category specialists alongside global platforms when choosing distribution. It does not establish profit margins.
5️⃣ Insight
The Maze: TikTok Shop, TikTok’s shopping marketplace, almost matched beauty retailer Sephora in US personal-care ecommerce in 2025. Social shopping rivals specialist retail.
ECDB measures gross merchandise value: the value of products sold through each retailer or platform, rather than its own revenue. Its 2025 totals put TikTok Shop at $3.00bn and Sephora at $3.05bn, with Ulta below both at $2.46bn.
Amazon’s $15.49bn and Walmart’s $13.63bn remain far larger. TikTok Shop connects products in social feeds with purchasing, making discovery another route into this market. The ranking does not show how much spending it took from other retailers.
The personal-care category is broader than makeup. This one-year comparison shows channel scale, not growth or profitability; it cannot tell a brand whether selling through TikTok Shop produces better margins than supplying a specialist.
Why it matters: US brands should assess social shopping alongside specialist retail. Elsewhere, test that competition with local sales and selling costs before shifting budget.
6️⃣ Insight
The Maze: Amazon's US customers ordered 22 times on average in 2025, versus about 15 at Walmart. Frequent checkout use gives a broad retailer more chances to win the next purchase.
The gap extends beyond Walmart. Purchase frequency means annual orders per shopper at each retailer, not per US resident. eBay reaches ten, less than half Amazon's count. The rounded figures cover ten selected retailers, rather than every US store.
Specialists face competition across shopping needs. Pet retailer Chewy reaches seven annual orders and home-improvement retailer Home Depot four. Amazon can serve both categories through one familiar account. ECDB points to Prime shipping benefits and fast delivery as explanations; the comparison does not prove those features caused the gap.
More orders do not automatically mean a stronger business. Best Buy and Costco each reach three, but electronics and bulk baskets can generate more spending per visit. For a specialist, the useful question is what makes a separate shopping trip worthwhile, rather than how to match Amazon's count.
Why it matters: Amazon’s US ordering frequency keeps its checkout familiar across categories. Rivals need a reason for a separate visit; profits and switching remain unproven.
🧰 Resources
Useful stuff, handpicked by the team every day
🤖 AI prompts: 16 AI Prompts for Inventory, Replenishment & Demand Planning or 👉 All here
📅 Events: E-commerce Berlin Expo 2027 or 👉 All here
🔓 Get the full resource library with MarketMaze+
🗞️ Quick hits
Everything else you should know
🛒 Shopping and ordering
TikTok Shop’s separate app is now available in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. It lets shoppers buy without opening TikTok’s video app, keeps live product demos and offers app-only deals.
Amazon switched its U.S. Prime restaurant orders from Grubhub to Uber Eats. Members order through Amazon and pay no delivery fee on eligible orders of $25 or more; no separate Uber account is needed.
Google added US home-service booking and quote links to AI Mode in Search. Eligible businesses with paid Jobber plans can receive requests through their own Jobber forms without a separate fee per request.
📦 Seller payouts and fulfillment
Amazon’s UK marketplace wallet lets eligible sellers keep UK sales payouts in pounds and pay UK suppliers directly. Sellers who send the money to their bank in another currency still pay a conversion fee.
Sellers on GeekSeller’s $19/month Plus plan can send eligible Shopify orders to Walmart for delivery to the 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Walmart ships from the seller’s own stock already in its warehouses and charges a separate fee.
🛠️ Store apps and ad tools
Shopify will block bulk data jobs for public apps without an approved list of network addresses after November 12. Apps still missing the list after November 20 lose their App Store listing and cannot take new installs.
Supermetrics lets marketers build ad campaigns in Claude, Anthropic’s AI chat. The feature is in early access on six named ad platforms and requires permission to edit the connected account. New campaigns stay paused until someone enables them.
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