Quick Take — Online shopping continues to grow, but consumers who do it seem more demanding than in the physical channel

…reactivity is a key competitive advantage, while improvisation leads to losing ground. Digital becomes a structural condition of being a consumer today. The brands that manage to combine technology and humanity, innovation and proximity, immediacy and meaning will be the ones able to build solid and lasting relationships with an audience that is increasingly mobile, informed and attentive to the quality of the experience.

Powering

Quick Take — US concludes Alibaba and BYD have ties to Chinese military: trade acquires additional geopolitical role

The companies are among those that the Pentagon believes may pose a threat to US national security (Financial Times)

… The decision to include Alibaba on what is formally known as the 1260H list comes three months after the FT reported that US intelligence agencies believed the e-commerce giant posed a threat to national security. The Pentagon will also add BYD, the world’s largest electric car manufacturer, and Baidu, the search engine, to the 1260H list established by Congress. Although trade tensions between the US and China have eased since Trump and Xi met in South Korea in October, the addition of major Chinese groups to the list will trigger new tensions ahead of their April summit…

Read about it : Where the world is going: with Amazon, Alibaba, Shein and Temu, trade takes on a geopolitical aspect

Quick Take — EU import of cheap parcels rises by 26%

The number of low-cost e-commerce parcels received from outside the EU rose sharply again last year, increasing by 26 per cent.

In total, 5.8 billion parcels with a value of up to EUR 150 were imported. This equates to approximately one parcel per EU citizen per month.

On this subject read also : The failure of Italian tariffs on small parcels that also penalises cargo flights (and other ‘Financial Times’ snippets)

Many companies have diverted deliveries to other EU countries to circumvent the tax. The result: the number of low-value parcels arriving directly in Italy from non-EU countries between 1 and 20 January dropped by 36%. We have already reported on this here.

Quick Take — Amazon lays off 16,000 employees

The latest round of job cuts brings the total number of redundancies to 30,000 in 3 months

The retailer laid off around 14,000 employees last October, bringing the total amount of redundancies to 30,000 in three months.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy warned of workforce reductions in June 2025 due to the company’s investment in AI.

Also on Tuesday, Amazon said it was closing its Fresh and Go grocery shops, after deciding to focus its efforts on expanding Whole Foods Market shops and same-day deliveries of fresh food from warehouses (with Amazon Now).

As a result, the company is laying off employees who helped run Fresh and Go’s operations, according to an internal memo seen by the Wall Street Journal.

Read also this article.

Quick Take — E-commerce: the Italian 2 euro tax on small parcels does not work

parcels are diverted to other EU countries to avoid the tax… “The measure has had a boomerang effect,” said Valentina Menin, director general of industry group Assaeroporti, which represents companies that manage 32 Italian airports, including Milan Malpensa, one of the country’s biggest cargo hubs. “The entire Italian logistics sector is losing business. When it decided to impose the tax as part of the 2026 budget, Rome expected to be able to raise €122 million this year and €245 million the following year. However, according to the Italian Customs Agency, the number of low-value parcels arriving directly in Italy from non-EU countries between 1 and 20 January was 36% lower than in the same period last year. According to current EU rules, once goods enter the single market and pass through customs on arrival, they can circulate freely without further checks or duties, allowing companies to easily avoid Italian handling fees…’Goods continue to enter Italy by truck, without paying the prescribed tariff, resulting in increased pollution and shifting traffic to other countries,’ he said. “The situation can only get worse if a solution is not found…” Financial Times

Read more here

In Italy, small towns are emptying, even of shops: will Amazon Now provide the service in the future?

Our distributors – such as Selex and Conad – who operate consortia, and thus are unable, with some exceptions, to offer a widespread e-commerce and delivery service for basic food and household products throughout Italy – risk having to leave space and opportunity to Amazon Now over time

Quick Take — To improve rider safety, the Indian government has asked ‘quick commerce’ platforms to drop their promise to satisfy customers in ten minutes

This has not slowed down the economic boom of these services for impatient customers, observes Isabelle Chaperon, columnist for the economics section of ‘Le Monde’: “In India, ‘fast trade’ is moving too fast.”

Fast commerce is one of the fastest growing sectors of the Indian gig economy. In November 2024, Datum Intelligence estimated that this market, negligible in 2020, would reach USD 6 billion (EUR 5.1 billion) in 2024 and USD 40 billion by 2030. Although local shops, called kitana, still account for 92% of food purchases, they are suffering from this competition. Meanwhile, the major online platforms, engaged in fierce competition, remain unprofitable, but their value is growing strongly. The share price of Eternal, owner of market leader Blinkit, has increased fivefold since 2023.

Quick commerce appeals for various reasons: poorly organised distribution and chaotic traffic. It is also favoured by the abundance of young workers, paid a few rupees. According to projections by the government think tank NITI Aayog for 2022, the approximately 7.7 million people doing ‘casual jobs’ for internet platforms in India, from taxi drivers to deliverymen, are expected to reach 30 million by 2030

Read more on the subject here.