LTM #121: ChatGPT Turns Marketplace – and More Marketplace News

ChatGPT is testing in-chat shopping – from product search to
recommendations and even checkout via Stripe. No webshop, no
marketplace – just conversation. Shopify reacts immediately,
blocking AI shopping agents. The battle for the customer
interface has officially begun. In this episode, Ingrid and
Valerie discuss how AI agents are shifting the power dynamics in
e-commerce – and what this means for marketplaces, sellers, and
brands. They also unpack the stories behind these headlines:




Galaxus pushes international expansion despite heavy losses




Tesco builds a massive new distribution center




bol.com opens up to non-EU sellers




Zalando & About You – merger approved, but many questions
remain




Note from the sponsor eBay:


Selling internationally sounds easy – but the reality often tells
a different story. Because shipping abroad is not the same as
being truly ready to scale across borders. That’s why our partner
eBay has put together a super helpful whitepaper that helps you
check your international readiness with a detailed checklist and
gives concrete advice on pricing, customer service, inventory,
returns – and even how to identify the right markets and
products. One highlight: With the eBay Product Research Tool, you
can analyze three years of sales data by country and category. So
if cross-border commerce is on your radar, download the free
whitepaper “From Germany to the World” by eBay right now:
https://www.ebay.de/sml/whitepaper-internationalverkaufen


Note from  the sponsor base:


Base is a SAAS e-commerce solution provider originally founded
2006 in Poland. The platform offers features such as automations
for order management, inventory management and fulfilment, a
marketplace management tool for lots and lots of B2B and B2C
channels, and integration options to include other backend tools
in real-time. Base is present in 11 countries, the solution is
already used by companies such as OBI, Kärcher, MediaMarkt,
Samsung, Decathlon, Intersport, Develey. If you would like to
learn more about Base, join us at our Connect Event with Base on
September 17 in Cologne. Register right now:
https://webforms.pipedrive.com/f/1wBV5bM8AALuEq8GfFLwj7tLJ80w9AZL4cf4DN1nvG4uMLrSOfA5NxaV1X0qvNAC7


Chapters:


01:00 AI's Impact on Marketplace Shopping


07:40 Galaxus's Internationalization Strategy


09:41 Tesco's New Distribution Strategy


11:49 Zalando and About You Merger


15:30 Bol's Expansion to Non-EU Sellers