Quick Take — Amazon also launches in the UK Amazon Now, the new ultra-rapid delivery service that promises to deliver thousands of groceries and household goods in around 30 minutes or less

The project kicks off in a test phase in some postcodes in Southwark, London, with an extension to other areas planned in the coming months.

Amazon Now is available seven days a week via app and website and offers an assortment that covers around 35 categories, including fresh food, beverages, protein snacks, low and no-alcohol products, vitamins and supplements, as well as major personal, household and pet care items. From a strategic point of view, the initiative strengthens Amazon’s positioning in the quick commerce segment, where speed of delivery is a key differentiating factor, particularly in high-density urban settings.

Quick Take — TikTok enters into an agreement for a new US entity, ending a long legal saga

The Chinese parent company of the popular video app claimed that a group of non-Chinese investors had created an American version of TikTok to avoid the federal ban.

TikTok said on Thursday that its Chinese owner, ByteDance, had struck a deal with a group of non-Chinese investors to create a new US TikTok, ending a six-year legal saga that has seen the app banned by Congress and embroiled in political clashes between two global superpowers.

The investors include software giant Oracle, MGX, an Emirati investment company, and Silver Lake, another investment company, which will hold more than 80 per cent of the new venture. The list also includes the personal investment entity of Michael Dell, the technology billionaire behind Dell Technologies, and other companies, TikTok said. Adam Presser, former chief operating officer of TikTok, will be the chief executive officer of TikTok in the US.

The deal aims to loosen TikTok’s ties with China and address national security concerns that Beijing could use the app to surveil or manipulate its more than 200 million users in the US…

The New York Times

Our relationship with FOOD over the last 100 YEARS has changed a great deal: how?

How has our relationship with food changed over the last hundred years? In the first episode of the docuseries “What We Eat”, produced in collaboration with @foodunfolded with the support of EIT Food and co-funded by the European Union, we trace the evolution of our relationship with food, which has been turned on its head in just one century

Quick Take — Walmart expands express delivery network to capture last-day Christmas sales

The retailer will accept express delivery orders until 5 p.m. local time on 24 December, with items arriving in as little as one hour depending on availability(while Amazon is testing half-hour delivery).

These deliveries will include hampers, Christmas dinners, even customised ones(note that Lidl has also embarked on the offer of value-for-money dinners), beer and liquor (for the latter ‘only’ in 2,800 shops).

Progressive Grocer

Below: a Walmart turkey meal (2024).

Quick Take — JD.com acquires a total share of 85.2% in Ceconomy which controls Mediaworld

In the meantime, JD.com had to accept a number of restrictions, from the French and Italian governments, concerning its indirect 22% stake in FnacDarty, a share held by Ceconomy itself.

These restrictions extend, as a logical consequence, also to the subsidiary Unieuro, where the French owns 100 per cent.

The main shareholder of FnacDarty remains, however, with 28%, the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky who controls Metro and what remains of Casino.

The company posted a turnover of $158.8 billion (€152.8 billion) in the financial year ending 31 December 2024.

You can read about it here.

Quick Take — Amazon launches 30-minute food delivery in selected markets

The service is currently being tested in parts of Seattle and Philadelphia.

Amazon Now includes thousands of household essentials and fresh groceries, delivered from smaller, specialised facilities designed for efficient order fulfilment. According to the company, this approach ‘prioritises the safety of employees picking and packing orders, reduces the distance couriers have to travel, and enables faster delivery times’.

Shipping costs start at $3.99 for Prime customers and $13.99 for non-customers. A fee of $1.99 will be charged for orders under $15.

Quick Take — Amazon reduces sales commissions in Europe in price war with Shein and Temu

As of 15 December, Amazon reduces the referral fees charged on clothes and accessories from 7% to 5% for items up to 15 euros ($17.41) or 15 pounds ($19.79) and from 15% to 10% for items between 15 and 20 euros or pounds…

Shein, which sells tops for €3 and jeans for only €8.20, has taken market share from European fast fashion retailers and challenged Amazon with its marketplace selling everything from duvet covers to hoovers

Amazon is the dominant e-commerce platform in Germany, France and other European countries, in a market where turnover is expected to grow by 7% to EUR 900 billion this year, according to forecasts by the industry association Ecommerce Europe.

Reuters

Quick Take — In Italy, one of the top five countries in Europe for online spending, more people do not buy online regularly than those who do (42%).

The country is divided in two: in the North, the percentage of regular buyers is between 40 and 50 per cent, while in the South it drops below 40 per cent. Low uptake is also found in several Balkan countries and in many regions of Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, which is also included in the map.

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