Welcome to the only newsletter that cares about your margins and your closet—sometimes more than you do. This week: Amazon muscles in on beauty, fast fashion gets exposed for what it is (cheap and disposable), and the world’s retail crown heads east. Let’s get to the numbers, the drama, and the power moves shaking up e-commerce.

INSIGHTS🧠

🌀 Who’s Winning Beauty in Europe?
💎 Fast Fashion = Short Life Span
🕰️ Retail’s Throne Room: Amazon and China Take Over
🧬 Digital Product Passports: Value Beyond Compliance
🚀 Ecommerce Order Volumes: The Growth Engine No One’s Talking About

NEWS📖

🇺🇸 TikTok Gets Another US Extension
🇺🇸 Retail Media Networks Target Brand Budgets
🇩🇪 SCAYLE launches enterprise commerce upgrade
🇪🇺 payabl. and PrestaShop team up on payments
🇬🇧 DPD drops £330M on 7 new UK hubs
🇺🇸 Amazon spends $4B to reach rural America

+ 15 other handpicked news from the last week you need to know 🔥

LET’S ENTER THE MAZE!
- Artur Stańczuk, MarketMaze Founder

Step aside, brick-and-mortar. According to NIQ’s “Online Beauty Report 2025” (N=2M EU panel, Mar ’25), e-commerce is now the beauty battleground. The data tracks everything: cosmetics, fragrance, skin, and hair care (styling tools not invited). What does this mean? The EU beauty market is having its e-moment—bigger baskets, new leaders, and the rise of the marketplace mafia.

Amazon is the Taylor Swift of EU beauty—seven #1s on the online charts. In 7 of the top 10 EU markets, Amazon is the go-to for lipstick, face cream, and that 2 a.m. impulse buy. Bol and Douglas snag the top spot in the Netherlands and Belgium, while Notino upsets in Switzerland. Local players are tough but Amazon is the main stage act, not the opening band.

Douglas and Notino are the perennial bridesmaids—never the bride, but always in the wedding photos. Both brands secure a podium finish in nearly every country. Douglas wins the Netherlands, Notino steals Switzerland, and both are nipping at Amazon’s heels everywhere else. TikTok Shop crashes the party in the UK, while Vinted breaks into the French top five, signaling a new wave of digital-first disruptors.

Let’s talk numbers. UK shoppers drop the most cash: €213 per year and 8.8 beauty orders—nearly 9 clicks per head. Swiss shoppers build the biggest baskets, €51, but don’t come back as often. Germany, Austria, and Ireland are steady, with €123–€148 average spend and penetration rates above 55%. The punchline: UK beauty buyers don’t just shop, they binge.

One in every five euros spent on beauty now flows through a marketplace. The UK leads with 34% marketplace share, Italy’s at 32%, and Germany clocks in at 29%. Retailers still hold the throne in Switzerland (91% retail) and the Netherlands (85%), but the marketplace share is up +1 pt vs. 2024. If you’re a brand, you’d better get marketplace muscle, or risk missing the next growth spurt.

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Shoppers, brace yourselves. The latest Indyx 2025 State of our Wardrobes Report pulls back the closet curtain on what really happens after you tap “Buy Now.” Forget best intentions. These numbers show how quickly most fashion is forgotten, and why bags and shoes are the only true survivors. Ready for some hard truths about your closet? Let’s get into it.

Ultra-fast fashion isn’t just speedy—it’s practically disposable. On average, a Shein or PrettyLittleThing item is worn just 3 times before it’s ghosted. That’s a third the wear of a COS sweater and half as much as Zara or H&M. Luxury isn’t safe either, matching fast fashion at just 6 wears. For context, contemporary brands like Vince and Everlane make it to 10, while mall staples like J.Crew hit 7. Turns out, your “it” dress has the shelf life of a TikTok trend.

No “cool girl” label cracks 15 wears per item. LoveShackFancy clocks in at just 1.4, Zimmermann at 3.6, and even wardrobe heroes like Agolde and Arket can’t reach 15 wears. The #30wears goal, pushed by sustainability advocates, looks like a pipe dream in today’s rotation-happy culture. Minimalist favorites like Sézane and Jenni Kayne barely hit double digits. Your favorite Instagram outfit is probably destined for the resale app by next season.

Most closet items barely break single digits. Tops see just 6 wears, dresses a meager 3, and swimwear? Practically untouched at 2. Only bags and shoes pull their weight, logging 17 and 16 wears respectively. Jewelry and outerwear hover around 10. The rest gather dust, proving that most of what we buy is more “just in case” than “just right.” The data is clear: unless it’s on your feet or slung over your shoulder, it probably isn’t earning its spot.

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In 2006, Walmart’s $348B in stores dwarfed the competition—Amazon didn’t even crack the list. By 2029, Amazon is projected at $1.3T in ecommerce, with Pinduoduo ($1.1T), ByteDance ($1.1T), and Alibaba ($1T) close behind. The old guard—Carrefour, Tesco, Metro—are nowhere in the new top 10. The story? The world’s biggest retailers now live online, and China’s platforms are writing the script. 👉 Linkedin

Bain & Company unpacks how EU’s digital product passports (DPPs) will shake up supply chains. It’s not just paperwork: DPPs unlock traceability, sustainability tracking, and new B2B revenue. Companies using DPPs could gain a data edge and win eco-conscious shoppers—and avoid regulatory headaches. 👉 Bain & Company

ECDB crunches the data on why raw order numbers - not just sales - drive platform power. The report tracks major jumps in monthly order volumes across top platforms in the last year, spotlighting leaders like Shein, Temu, and Amazon. Growth is now about baskets per minute, not just basket size. 👉 ECDB

🇺🇸 TikTok Gets Another US Extension Amid Uncertainty. TikTok has received a 90-day extension from US authorities, pushing the deadline to sell its US business to September 17, 2025. Over 170 million Americans and 7.5 million US businesses use TikTok, making it a major player with an estimated $24.2 billion impact on US GDP. 👉 ChannelX

🇺🇸 Retail Media Networks Target Brand Budgets. Retail media is maturing fast, moving beyond basic ads to offer full-funnel solutions with better measurement and ROI tracking. Global retail media spend is expected to top $200 billion by 2027 as big brands shift more marketing dollars into platforms like Amazon and Walmart Connect. 👉 Digiday

🇺🇸 WhatsApp Tests Ads, Raising Revenue and Risks. WhatsApp is rolling out ads in its Status feed to monetize over 2 billion users, hoping to cut reliance on parent company Meta’s ad platform. The move could be lucrative but risks alienating privacy-focused users and may push some to rivals like Signal or Telegram. 👉 The Conversation

🇺🇸 Uber Expands Ride Offers Ads Globally. Uber Advertising is bringing its “Ride Offers” ad product to markets like Mexico City, Sao Paulo, and London, letting brands target riders with in-app deals. Uber claims these ads boost brand recall by 15% and app engagement by 10%, aiming to compete with DoorDash Ads and Lyft Media. 👉 Marketing Dive

🇬🇧 Farfetch Launches New Ad Tools for Luxury Brands. Farfetch has upgraded its advertising solutions, adding carousel ads, in-feed placements, and shoppable content with advanced tracking for brands. Early results show a 20–30% jump in engagement and up to 8% higher conversions, helping Farfetch compete with Amazon Luxury and LVMH online. 👉 Luxury Daily

🇩🇪 SCAYLE launches enterprise commerce upgrade. SCAYLE rolls out 60+ new features for D2C and B2C brands in its 2025 platform, aiming to boost sales and streamline checkout with automation and a new storefront. Part of their “Enterprise Evolutions 2025” push. 👉 retail-news.de

🇪🇺 payabl. and PrestaShop team up on payments. Payment provider payabl. partners with PrestaShop, unlocking 300+ payment methods for 250,000 merchants and aiming to cut cart abandonment. European e-commerce could top $565B by 2029. 👉 thepaypers.com

🇦🇺 Yep AI debuts 24/7 sales agent for Shopify. Melbourne-based Yep AI launches a proactive AI sales tool on Shopify, claiming 20% better conversions and 90% of issues solved without human help. CEO Tony Shen says the app “sells, not just responds.” 👉 businesswire.com

🇹🇭 Central Online boosts e-commerce search. Thailand’s Central Online adds Algolia’s AI Search & Discovery platform to improve product findability and customer experience. The move supports the brand’s digital shift as Thai e-commerce expands. 👉 retail-insight-network.com

🇺🇸 Nosto launches AI upsell for Shopify stores. Nosto’s new post-purchase upsell tool uses AI to show offers after checkout, driving up AOV. Case study: Jewelry brand JENNY BIRD saw a 58% AOV boost and 13% more upsells accepted with the app. 👉 nosto.com

🇺🇸 Invideo 4.0 lets anyone clone with AI Twins. Invideo’s new “AI Twins” feature lets users clone themselves or products for studio-quality videos at scale. The platform boasts 50 million users and 8 million monthly videos created. 👉 businesswire.com

🇩🇪 Payone faces money laundering allegations. German fintech Payone is under scrutiny after reports linked it to suspicious deals with a “porn baron” and scammers. Internal alerts were reportedly ignored, raising big questions on compliance. 👉 spiegel.de

🇬🇧 DPD drops £330M on 7 new UK hubs. DPD is investing £330 million to build seven automated UK parcel centers, boosting parcel processing and expanding electric van capacity. New hubs will open by 2027 in Crawley, Darlington, and five other cities, adding 100+ driver routes and supporting net-zero goals. 👉 ChannelX

🇺🇸 Amazon spends $4B to reach rural America. Amazon will invest over $4 billion to extend Prime same-day/next-day delivery to 4,000+ rural towns, creating hundreds of jobs and closing the rural-urban shipping gap. The move comes ahead of Prime Day, targeting Walmart’s grocery delivery lead. 👉 TechCrunch

🇳🇬 Sabi pivots after $38M raise, cuts 20%. African B2B e-commerce startup Sabi raised $38 million, then laid off 20% of staff to focus on exporting traceable commodities. Sabi now moves 20,000+ tons per month as retail marketplace growth stalls, targeting stable export margins. 👉 TechCrunch

🇬🇧 DHL, ZigZag expand cross-border returns. DHL eCommerce UK deepens its partnership with ZigZag, giving online shoppers an easy portal to make international returns and recover duties or VAT. The move supports brands’ growth abroad as social commerce and global returns surge. 👉 ZigZag Global

🇺🇸 FedEx sees shipping slowdown, revenue drops. FedEx global shipping volumes dropped as revenue fell 3.8% to $22.7B, with China–US traffic slumping after new tariffs. CEO Rajesh Subramaniam warns of weak demand; Asia–US air cargo fell 35%, hitting FedEx for $170M in Q2. 👉 PYMNTS

🇨🇳 China–US e-commerce airfreight plunges 43%. US tariff changes slashed China–US e-commerce airfreight by 43% in May, falling from 109,000 to 63,000 tons. Chinese exporters are now sending more goods to Europe and Asia as the US market shrinks. 👉 Air Cargo News

That's it for today! Before you go we’d love to know what you thought of today's maze to help us improve!

See you next time in the maze!
MarketMaze team