ContextLogic will drop its current ticker symbol WISH within 30 days of the deal closing, according to its announcement. The acquisition price of $6.50 per share, however, will give investors a 44% premium on where the stock traded before the Monday announcement.

Wish.com is No. 25 in Digital Commerce 360′ Global Online Marketplaces Database. The database ranks the 100 largest such marketplaces by 2023 third-party gross merchandise value (GMV).

What Wish being acquired by Qoo10 means for its future

“Integrating the Wish platform into Qoo10 will create a true global cross-border ecommerce platform to support the massive market demand,” said Joe Yan, the CEO at ContextLogic. “Upon close, we expect the new Wish platform will have an improved customer experience through increased product assortment and merchant selection. And for our merchants, we will be able to offer fully integrated logistical capabilities to deliver unmatched cost-efficient services with high quality control and transparency.”

The acquisition also provides an end to Wish’s ongoing losses under ContextLogic. The company announced in November that it was exploring “a range of strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value” at the end of third quarter when negative cashflow reached $86 million.

Who are Qoo10’s competitors?

By adding Wish to its portfolio, Qoo10 will push into a competitive discount space in online retail. There, Temu and Shein are aggressively pursuing expansion. Temu, for instance, likely spent tens of millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads, in 2024. In addition, it may have as much as $3 billion being readied for its total annual marketing budget.

“Wish has innovative technology that provides highly entertaining, personalized shopping experiences for its users while serving as one of the largest global ecommerce platforms,” said Young Bae Ku, the CEO and founder of Qoo10. “By combining our operating expertise and Wish’s technology and data science capabilities, we expect to drive greater success for merchants while providing an even greater marketplace for consumers globally.”

As Qoo10 eyes its own international expansion, it will look to leverage Wish’s existing reach and business.

“With the acquisition of Wish, Qoo10 and Wish will offer a comprehensive platform for merchants, sellers, buyers, and customers globally to realize the potential of a truly global marketplace,” Ku said. “With the strong commitment from Wish’s employees and staff combined with the Qoo10 family group of companies, we are well positioned to realize our long-stated goal of being a leading cross-border, ecommerce marketplace.”

Closing date for Qoo10’s Wish acquisition

ContextLogic anticipates a second-quarter closing for the deal in 2024 to finalize Wish being acquired. It will face a shareholder vote and other conditions before that can happen.

“The Board conducted a thorough review of strategic alternatives with the assistance of outside financial and legal advisors,” said Tanzeen Syed, chairman of the board at ContextLogic. “We evaluated a variety of potential outcomes and determined that the proposed sale of our operating assets and liabilities, while preserving significant NOLs, represents the best path forward to maximize value for shareholders. We also believe there is a significant upside potential to obtaining a long-term aligned capital partner that would support future value creation.”

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The Chinese app bought air time for three commercials during the game and two after. Super Bowl advertising is some of the most expensive of the year. For Super Bowl LVIII, advertisers paid between $6.5 million and $7 million for a 30-second commercial, CNN reported. Individual rates vary, however, depending on when an ad airs during the game and if an individual advertiser purchases multiple commercial spots. A Temu spokesperson declined to comment on how much the retailer spent.

Temu’s Super Bowl commercial featured the tagline “Shop like a billionaire.” In it, the animated protagonist buys a variety of household and apparel products priced under $10. The purchases are a sampling of the low-cost products Temu has become known for. The retailer also partnered with San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey to promote $5 million in coupons and credits on Instagram ahead of the game, and an additional $10 million during the game, the spokesperson said.

Pinduoduo owns Temu, which launched in 2022 and isn’t yet reflected in Digital Commerce 360 rankings of the largest online retailers. Pinduoduo operates an app-only marketplace for Chinese consumers. Because it doesn’t operate an ecommerce website, it is not included in Digital Commerce 360’s Asia Database.

Rise of Temu and its Super Bowl ad buys

Temu first gained the spotlight one year ago during the Super Bowl in 2023. 

Last year, the retailer bought two Super Bowl commercials, its first introduction to many U.S. consumers. PDD had launched Temu just a few months earlier, in September 2022.

“Through the largest stage possible, we want to share with our consumers that they can shop with a sense of freedom because of the price we offer,” PDD said in a statement at the time.

That strategy seems to be working. Temu was the most downloaded app in the U.S. in 2023, and the eighth-most downloaded app in the world, according to analytics firm Sensor Tower. The retailer reached 51 million monthly active users in January, a nearly 300% year-over-year increase.

In May, Temu surpassed rival Shein’s monthly U.S. sales for the first time. In September, a report from Earnest Analytics found that Temu is taking market share from Dollar General and Dollar Tree. Temu is now the No. 4 most-visited retail website in the U.S., behind only Amazon, Walmart, and eBay, The Wall Street Journal reported based on Insider Intelligence research.

Shein Group Ltd. is No. 36 in the Asia Database. Dollar General ranks No. 725 in the 2023 Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000. The Top 1000 is a ranking of North America’s leading retailers by online sales. Amazon ranks No. 1, and Walmart ranks No. 2.

Temu’s ad strategy

Temu is spending heavily on advertising, prioritizing customer acquisition. The retailer outspent all advertisers except Amazon on Facebook in Q4 of 2023, Sensor Tower said. Temu grew its ad spending on Facebook 318%, and spending on Instagram grew 101%  year over year in the quarter, the firm said. 

J.P. Morgan estimates Temu will spend $3 billion on marketing in 2024.

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Emily Newton

A smooth customs process is essential for getting ecommerce goods to their destinations in the expected time frames. However, standard customs forms are extremely detailed, with dozens of fields to fill. People are increasingly interested in how artificial intelligence (AI) could streamline things.

1. Completing Customs Forms More Efficiently

Even conscientious people make errors when providing information on customs documents. That might mean they put details into the wrong fields, use the wrong tariff codes to classify ecommerce documents, or make other mistakes, ultimately extending the time frames for parcels reaching their destinations or resulting in the packages getting returned to the senders.

Many optical character recognition tools have AI features to improve their functionality. People can use these options to pull data from electronic paperwork automatically and use it for customs forms.

Phlo Systems is a digital forwarder based in the United Kingdom working on a chatbot to fill out customs forms. Training is underway and responses have about an 80% accuracy rate, showing the solution’s potential. As of November 2023, the company’s CEO and founder expected to complete customs forms with the tool in three to six months.

Although AI can shorten the time necessary to complete customs forms, humans should always supervise the process and double-check the results. Well-trained algorithms are not perfect, so computing power and human oversight are an excellent combination to assist those dealing with exported products.

2. Linking Customer Purchases to Customs Form Data

Businesses may also expand the functionality of existing ChatGPT tools that bring AI to ecommerce, making them improve customs documents, too. Technology ecommerce brand Newegg released a customer-facing ChatGPT tool in July 2023 that suggests products for people wanting to build computers based on details they input about budget, performance requirements and other specifics.

The tool compiles all the options into a list people can review before checking out at the site. It is easy to imagine an accompanying AI product Newegg team members could use to populate customs forms based on what a customer ultimately purchases from the suggested list. Then, the items are more likely to be classified and described correctly on the customs forms. Tariff classifications determine duty rates and taxes on imports, making their accuracy critical.

Ecommerce leaders could also use AI to track trends that enable more accurate customs data. Perhaps a large percentage of overseas shoppers purchase a specific in-demand item and nothing else. AI might accelerate the process by automatically populating the product-specific customs form fields in such cases. Then, there is less to do because people only need to check the information that varies with each customer.

3. Stopping False Declarations and Counterfeit Goods

Possibilities also exist for customs agents to use AI tools to highlight abnormalities associated with illegal goods or items declared incorrectly. Artificial intelligence excels at processing large quantities of information and catching things humans would miss. Many banks use it to monitor for fraudulent transactions because it can detect those instances more accurately than people

If people make false declarations on customs documents, they typically do that to reduce their import tax and duty-related obligations. Many border patrol agents use artificial intelligence to assess which shipping containers to open for further inspection.

Some ships reach ports bearing 24,000 containers, making it impossible to inspect them all. However, the customs officials working at a Belgian port rely on predictive AI models to flag which ones to check. The algorithms make decisions based on customs declarations and data from goods previously requiring inspections.

Even so, illegal goods can slip past border agents, which may result in counterfeit products reaching ecommerce sites. More companies are responding by using or offering AI tools to combat these emerging circumstances.

One enterprise specializing in the luxury goods and sneaker markets built an artificial intelligence-driven product to compare photographs of legitimate items with those sold online. The software compares approximately 2,000 to 4,000 characteristics so consumers or retailers can feel more confident about authenticity.

Some ecommerce marketplaces could use counterfeit protection as a selling point to attract new customers. Suppose first-time visitors to a shopping website sees a banner informing them that all products above a specific monetary value receive anti-counterfeit screenings before getting shipped to recipients. Such a claim gives consumers peace of mind, particularly before buying high-value, unique or collector’s items.

Will Artificial Intelligence Improve Customs Processes?

AI for customs declarations and processing is still in the early stages, with decision-makers from many businesses still in the planning process. However, as more of them try real-world applications, artificial intelligence should make a bigger and lasting impact on paperwork and goods movement. The results could assist ecommerce companies with administrative tasks associated with import and export paperwork, plus support border patrol officials with spotting suspicious cargo or incorrectly declared products.

About the author:

Emily Newton reports on how technology disrupts industrial sectors. She’s also the editor-in-chief of Revolutionized, covering innovations in industry, construction, and more.

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UPS consolidated revenue declined 7.8% to $24.9 billion in its fiscal fourth quarter ended Dec. 31. Consolidated operating profit declined 22.5% during the same time period to $2.5 billion. For the full fiscal 2023 year, consolidated revenue declined 9.3% to $91 billion and consolidated operating profit declined 28.7% to $9.1 billion.

“2023 was a unique and quite candidly a difficult and disappointing year. We experienced declines in volume, revenue, and operating profit in all three of our business segments. Some of this performance was due to the macroenvironment and some of it was due to the disruption associated with our labor contract negotiations as well as higher costs associated with the new contract,” Tome told investors.

532 online retailers in the Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000 use UPS for their fulfillment — either exclusively or in combination with other carriers. 65.6% of Top 1000 sales come from retailers using UPS. The Top 1000 is a ranking of North America’s leading retailers by online sales. 

UPS domestic revenue results

U.S. domestic segment revenue declined 7.3% to $16.9 billion in the quarter, UPS said. Average daily volume (ADV) ended the quarter 7.4% below 2022 levels. However, that still represented a step up from an “exceptionally low third quarter” that preceded the period, Tome said. Revenue per piece of mail was slightly positive, the carrier said without revealing more.

B2B made up 35.5% of domestic volume in the quarter, about flat from 2022. B2B ADV declined 6.8% year over year, due to declines in the retail, tech, and manufacturing sectors, UPS said. 

Total air ADV declined 15% year over year, while ground declined 5.8%. Macroeconomic pressures pushed UPS customers toward ground products to cut costs, it said.

UPS international revenue results

Revenue and package volume also declined internationally, largely due to softening demand in Asia and Europe, Tome said. Revenue declined 6.9% year over year to $4.6 billion, driven by an 8.3% decrease in ADV. Revenue per piece grew 3.1%.

The carrier highlighted a few bright spots in the international segment. Volume from China to the U.S. grew 2.7%. That remains the most profitable shipping lane, UPS said. The growth was largely driven by small and medium-sized businesses. Volume in the Americas also grew, up 11.9%. That was the result of Canadian and Mexican customers using cross-border ground shipping services, UPS said. 

2024 projections

UPS remains “cautious” looking ahead to 2024, it said. European export volumes are projected to increase, and the carrier expects volume from China to continue growing, too. 

In the fourth quarter, UPS recovered much of the volume lost to a potential strike earlier in 2023, Tome said. The business will be burdened by rising costs this year, including from the higher labor costs won in union negotiations with the Teamsters. Eliminating the 12,000 positions is intended to mitigate those rising costs, she said. Layoffs will impact managerial positions, not union jobs, it said. UPS has about 495,000 employees as of January, Tome said. That’s down from a high of 540,000 during peak COVID-era demand.

UPS said the first half of 2024 will likely be difficult, while projecting profit to grow 20 to 30% in the second half of the year.

UPS quarterly earnings

For the fiscal fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2023, UPS reported:

• Consolidated revenue declined 7.8% to $24.9 billion.
• Consolidated operating profit declined 22.5% to $2.5 billion.
• UPS average daily package volume declined 7.5%.

For the 12 months ended Dec. 31, 2023, UPS reported:

• Revenue declined 9.3% to $91.0 billion.
• Operating profit declined 28.7% to $9.1 billion.

Percentage changes may not align exactly with dollar figures due to rounding. Check back for more earnings reports.

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China’s internet regulating body, The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), is investigating the apparel retailer’s data and supply chain practices, The Wall Street Journal reported. That could have implications for Shein’s plans for an IPO in the U.S. The fast-fashion retailer reportedly filed for the move confidentially in November. A CAC investigation, however, could delay an IPO for months or remove the option altogether. Shein must wait on permission from Beijing before pursuing a U.S. IPO.

Shein is No. 2 in Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of ecommerce retailers in Asia by online sales. The online apparel retailer was valued at $66 billion in May when it closed its latest funding round. Shein reportedly reached $2.5 billion in income in 2023, according to Bloomberg.

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Why is China investigating Shein?

Shein was founded in China in 2012 but moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2022. It does not sell its low-priced apparel and accessories in China, but it does rely on contract manufacturers in the country. The U.S. is Shein’s biggest market of the 150 countries it sells in.

However, the retailer is still subject to certain Chinese regulations before it can get a green light to go public in the United States. Chinese companies planning an IPO outside the country must abide by recent listing rules, Reuters reported. Companies are bound by the listing rules if more than half of revenue, profit, or assets are generated in China, and either its main business is conducted in China, or senior management is mostly made up of Chinese citizens. 

The Chinese regulations are in part to ensure that data on Shein’s suppliers, partners, and staff in China are protected from leaks outside the country. China will also review what information Shein will share with regulators if it does go through an IPO.

By approaching China’s regulators ahead of an IPO, Shein could head off potential problems like those of ride-hailing business Didi. In 2021, Didi was subject to a regulatory review after raising more than $4 billion in an IPO with the New York Stock Exchange. Chinese regulators then ordered it to stop registering new users and to shut down some apps. Within a year, it was delisted in the U.S. 

Other Shein IPO obstacles

Shein faces other obstacles that could stall potential IPO plans, too. Those include U.S. lawmakers, who have raised concerns over the retailer’s labor practices.

Shortly after the retailer filed confidentially for an IPO in November, U.S. Representative Jennifer Wexton released a statement questioning the presence of forced labor at Shein’s contract manufacturers.

“If the fast-fashion giant Shein wants to go public in the U.S., they should have to prove to American consumers that their products are not sourced from forced labor,” the Virginia senator said. 

It faced criticisms for labor practices since a 2022 Bloomberg report linked cotton in some Shein products to China’s Xinjiang region. Human rights groups have accused China of using forced labor from the Uyghur ethnic minority in the region, which the government in Beijing denies.

Shein has said it has a “zero-tolerance policy for forced labor.”

“We take visibility across our entire supply chain seriously, and we are committed to respecting human rights. To comply with U.S. law, we require our contract manufacturers to only source cotton from approved regions,” the apparel retailer told Digital Commerce 360.

As of November, Shein said 1.7% of its cotton tested positive for cotton from the region.

“According to global supply chain tracing firm Oritain, these amounts are much lower than the industry average of 14%,” a spokesperson wrote at the time.

When will Shein’s IPO happen?

The CAC has not set a date for providing Shein with an answer to its investigation. The U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission also has not responded in writing to Shein, according to The Wall Street Journal.

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This explosive growth forecast in digital B2B commerce over the next six years is good news for suppliers. However, it also underscores some significant changes. These include the ways B2B buyers will purchase digitally and how suppliers sell and market their products, according to the report.

Most important B2B ecommerce trends

In breaking down the shifts that will drive growth for B2B ecommerce, Merkle highlighted the following four trends:

1. The growing ubiquity of machine-to-machine commerce
2. Significant growth in ecommerce marketplaces
3. Increased speed to market for new products
4. Greater traceability, or the ability to identify and track the entire chain of sourcing, production, and movement of any product at any stage

When it comes to machine-to-machine ecommerce, Merkle predicts that by 2030, about one-third of all B2B ecommerce — or $8 trillion — will be made through machine-to-machine interactions, with no human involvement. The change will be driven by the integration of new technologies. These may include the Internet of Things, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and smart devices being integrated into sellers’ operations.

As users become more comfortable with these technologies, businesses will begin to allow machines to make decisions and transact with increasing independence. Areas ripe for this shift include commodity-like activities such as restocking supplies for a medical office. Brands already use software apps that automatically identify when inventory is low. In many cases, they send messages to other apps, asking for stock to be replenished. Amazon.com, for example, has developed its own shelving units and warehouse control systems. These systems autonomously reorder items when supplies run low, according to Merkle.

While B2B sellers have been deploying increased ecommerce technology in recent years, all the potential efficiencies and data insights such technologies can bring cannot be unleashed without interoperability among systems, which allows data to flow more seamlessly.

Merkle forecasts the potential value that can be achieved through interoperability can exceed $10 trillion in 2030 and that B2B applications will make up more than 60% of that value.

Digital B2B marketplaces will also play a significant role in the B2B ecommerce landscape by 2030. B2B marketplaces are expected to account for $12 trillion in sales in 2030, Merkle says. That comes out to about 50% of all B2B sales. In comparison, less than 15% of global B2B purchases took place through B2B marketplaces in 2023. During the same period, about 60% of B2C ecommerce took place through marketplaces, according to the report.

3 B2B marketplace trends in ecommerce

In its analysis, Merkle also assessed trends that will be relevant for B2B marketplaces specifically. These included the following:

1. Direct B2B ecommerce, or digital experiences and commerce platforms owned and operated by manufacturers and/or distributors selling directly to B2B buyers
2. Industry marketplaces that emphasize specific categories
3. Mega marketplaces offering diverse arrays of B2B products and services

One advantage to selling on B2B marketplaces is that they provide “an obvious on ramp to sales,” according to the report. For example, Alibaba’s 1688 marketplace operates in 20 countries, including China. It has average order values of more than $5,000 and over 10 million business accounts.

That kind of sales volume is grabbing the attention of investors. In 2022, the 10 largest privately held B2B marketplaces in the United States received more than $6 billion in private equity and venture capital investments, Merkle says. Venture capitalists’ interest in B2B marketplaces could prove to be a lingering trend. As that occurs, more small B2B suppliers could shift away from a strategy of building their own ecommerce sites. As they do, they may instead favor presences on marketplaces.

Some 66% of business executives across B2B categories plan to build a larger ecosystem of third-party sellers, service providers, and products, Merkle says. Aerospace manufacturer SE and Toyota Motor Corp., for example, have scaled global marketplaces for OEM parts and service across a large network of dealers, suppliers, and SKUs.

When it comes to how fast manufacturers can bring new products or services to market, Merkle expects artificial intelligence (AI) to play an increasingly larger role. By 2030, Merkle predicts that major changes in how brands design, test and deliver goods to market will accelerate speed to market by up to 300% across all industry categories, due to the influence of AI.

The role of AI

While AI itself is not new, its sibling, generative AI, is. Generative AI is artificial intelligence capable of producing text, images or other media. It commonly does so using models that learn the patterns and structure of their input training data. Those systems then output new data that has similar characteristics.

A key advantage of generative AI is that it enables brands to develop prototypes in hours. In many cases, the alternatives may take weeks or months. It can also aid the creation of personalized products on demand.

Generative AI also opens the door to creating digital twins. A digital twin is a virtual representation of a product or system. It may use simulation, machine learning and reasoning to help identify issues during digital product design, which ensures fast development time. Digital twins can improve a developer’s ability to spot potential problems during the development process by 80%. The global digital twin market is set to grow from $10 billion in 2022 to $110 billion by 2028, the report says.

Increasing focus on traceability

Finally, traceability will play a significant role in the development of B2B commerce by 2030. Traceability is the ability to track the information about a product from the procurement of raw materials to production. This occurs through the distribution channel, and finally to the end user.

Traceability will become important for manufacturers. That’s because without it, “reputational risk looms large for brands that cannot align their product sourcing and business practices to their customers’ values,” the report says.

With B2B buyers more aligned with the principles of traceability, and more likely to work for companies that reflect their views about traceability, it is more likely those buyers will demand to purchase “ethical goods” from their suppliers. In 2020, for example, there was a 24% increase in large-scale purchasers requesting environmental data from suppliers compared to 2019, according to the report.

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The ecommerce software provider defined the holiday season as Nov. 1 through Dec. 31. Year over year, Salesforce said, global online sales grew 3%. Moreover, the global average discount rate across the entire holiday season was 21%. That’s the highest it has been since 2020, Salesforce said. Salesforce uses data from more than 1.5 billion global shoppers.

In North America, 76 of the top 2000 online retailers use Salesforce as their ecommerce platform, according to Digital Commerce 360 data. In 2022, those 76 online retailers combined for more than $116.97 billion in web sales.

Meanwhile, U.S. online holiday spending reached $221.1 billion, according to data from Adobe Analytics.

How much did global ecommerce sales grow during the 2023 holiday season?

By week, the largest sales growth during the holiday season was a tie between Cyber Week (the week encompassing Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday) and pre-Christmas, according to Salesforce data. Each of those weeks grew sales 6% year over year, Salesforce reported. The next-highest sales growth (4%) was in the first week of November. Christmas-week sales growth declined 4% year over year.

Based on Salesforce’s data, order growth was correlated with sales growth during the 2023 holiday season. Cyber Week and pre-Christmas week each recorded 6% year-over-year order volume growth in 2023. Meanwhile, order volume during the first week of the holiday season grew 2% year over year, Salesforce said. Christmas-week order volume declined 6%.

For the holiday season as a whole, order volume grew 2% year over year, Salesforce said. That correlated with 2% year-over-year growth in units per transaction growth, and the increase in average selling price was 0.7% year over year, Salesforce said.

How popular was store pickup in the 2023 holiday season?

Each week of the 2023 holiday season, at least 22% of orders were picked up at stores, Salesforce found — or more than one out of every five orders. That grew to at least a quarter of all orders from the week after Thanksgiving through Christmas week, according to Salesforce, with about a third of orders (33%) being picked up at stores during Christmas week.

Share of online orders picked up at store during the 2023 holiday season, according to Salesforce.

Mobile shopping trends during the 2023 holidays

Traffic to mobile devices grew year over year during each week of the holiday season, Salesforce said. The largest growth in mobile traffic, 10%, was during Cyber Week. The first week of the holiday season, post-Cyber Week, and the week before Christmas each recorded 9% growth in mobile traffic, according to Salesforce.

In contrast, desktop web traffic decreased each week of the holiday season, Salesforce found.

What channels drove the most online traffic through the holiday season?

Each week of the holiday season, direct traffic accounted for the largest source of online retailers’ global website visits. From Nov. 1 through the end of December, Salesforce data shows, direct traffic accounted for 37% of all visits to online retailers’ websites, with three exceptions. During and directly preceding Cyber Week, that traffic source bumped up slightly to 38%. On Christmas week, it dipped slightly to 36%.

Search traffic accounted for about a third of all website visits throughout the 2023 holiday season, Salesforce found, hovering between 31% and 33% each week. Internal traffic accounted for 14% to 15% of visits each week during that time frame, and traffic from social media platforms combined for 10% to 11% of total visits each week. Advertising and email traffic each accounted for just 1% of global visits to online retailers’ websites.

Global web traffic growth from social media platforms grew 10% year over year in the first week of the 2023 holiday season, tied with the mid-season week halfway between Cyber Week and Christmas. Such traffic from social media platforms was its lowest during the holiday season during Christmas week (4%).

Advertisement traffic growth increased the most in the mid-season week (27%) and the week before Christmas (23%). The week before Thanksgiving, advertising traffic growth decreased 4%, the only week with negative ad traffic growth during the season.

Email and direct traffic were the only other channels to have negative growth during the 2023 holiday season, according to Salesforce data. Email traffic growth decreased 2% the week before Christmas, with a larger drop (-16%) during Christmas week. Direct traffic growth also decreased year over year (2%) during Christmas week.

How did returns factor into the 2023 holiday season?

Salesforce data shows that returns during the 2023 holiday season were largely consistent with the 2022 season. The percentage of orders consumers returned each week was essentially flat, with the exception that they grew to 19% during Christmas week in 2023, compared with 16% in 2022. They also grew slightly in the second week of November 2023 (11%) compared with the same week in 2022 (10%).

Share of orders consumers returned during each week of the holiday season in 2023 and 2022, according to Salesforce data.

Returns dipped slightly to 10% during the first week of November 2023 from 11% in 2022, and to 4% during Cyber Week 2023 compared with 5% in 2022.

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A&B Tropical Produce is based in Miami and provides Central and South American fruits and vegetables to the U.S. It specializes in plantains, yellow yams, yuca, avocados and dragon fruit from 11 countries in the region. The acquisition will allow GrubMarket to expand its East Coast presence and gain better standing in the food supply chain industry, it says. A&B currently sells 50 different commodities to 100 wholesale customers across North America, according to a statement. 

“A&B is also strategically located near key Florida ports at the crossroads of North and South America, which will enable GrubMarket to strengthen our position not only on the East Coast but also in the global food supply chain,” GrubMarket CEO Mike Xu said in a written statement. “We are thrilled to welcome the A&B team to the GrubMarket family.”

What is GrubMarket?

GrubMarket connects farmers with consumers for home delivery. It also sells food to grocery retailers and restaurants. Walmart, Costco and Whole Foods are among its customers. GrubMarket operates in all 50 U.S. states along with parts of Canada, South America, Asia and Africa.

In 2021, it reached $1 billion in annual revenue and became one of the largest suppliers of South American produce to the U.S.

Other GrubMarket acquisitions

A&B became the latest in a string of acquisitions by Grubmarket in 2023. In October, GrubMarket acquired another produce wholesale business based in Philadelphia, PA China Farm. The business specializes in produce from Asia including black cabbage, baby bok choy, napa cabbage, papaya and durian, GrubMarket said in a press release at the time. It also imports yogurt, tofu and other products from Spain, Morocco, Thailand and other countries. Xu called the acquisition a way to reinforce GrubMArket’s presence in the Northeast.

One month earlier, GrubMarket announced the acquisition of Mendez International, a wholesale distributor of produce to greater New York City grocery stores and supermarkets. Mendez International supplies those retailers with avocados, limes, mangos and other produce from Costa Rica, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. 

Grubmarket made more than a dozen acquisitions in 2022, and more than 60 in the last four years, CNBC reported. It raised $499 million in funding since it was founded in 2014, according to Crunchbase.

Additions to GrubMarket’s portfolio of distributors also gain access to the firm’s SaaS platform, with online ordering features and shipping and logistics management technology.

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The Singapore-based company reportedly filed confidentially for its initial public offering in the U.S. The move begins a new process for the online fast-fashion retailer. Next, it will submit and edit proposed paperwork in private as it faces questions from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In the coming months, Shein could then make its filing public to pursue its IPO. That path, however, may require it to satisfy lawmakers, who have raised concerns over Shein’s labor practices.

Shein IPO and concerns over forced labor in China

“If the fast-fashion giant Shein wants to go public in the U.S., they should have to prove to American consumers that their products are not sourced from forced labor,” U.S. Representative Jennifer Wexton, a Democrat from Virginia, said in a statement released Tuesday.

The company already faces an investigation by the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. That committee is concerned about Shein’s ties to the Chinese government and compliance with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. In addition, 16 Republican attorneys general sent a letter to SEC Chair Gary Gensler in August. They called on the agency to keep Shein from trading on U.S. exchanges until legal compliance can be verified. Specifically, they cited a ban on forced labor expressed in Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930.

Critics, including Wexton, have raised concerns that contract manufacturers in China’s Xinjiang region may be relying on labor from interned groups of Uyghurs and other minority groups. The Chinese government denies that practice, and Shein has publicly committed to eliminating forced labor in its supply chain.

“Shein has a zero-tolerance policy for forced labor,” a spokesperson for Shein told Digital Commerce 360 in an emailed statement. “We take visibility across our entire supply chain seriously, and we are committed to respecting human rights. To comply with U.S. law, we require our contract manufacturers to only source cotton from approved regions.”

How Shein tests cotton

Shein’s efforts have included hiring the New Zealand-based supply chain tracing firm Oritain to test cotton samples. That announcement followed a 2022 Bloomberg report linked cotton in some Shein clothing to Xinjiang. That report prompted a bipartisan letter from three U.S. senators in February, requesting details about Shein’s process for ensuring that its cotton is not sourced from the area.

“As of November 2023, only 1.7% of our cotton tested positive for unapproved cotton,” Shein’s spokesperson wrote. “According to global supply chain tracing firm Oritain, these amounts are much lower than the industry average of 14%.”

Shein maintains that samples testing positive are ultimately removed from production. Shein responded to Rep. Wexton’s comments, inviting further dialogue.

“We are eager to engage and continue to be transparent will all stakeholders, including Representative Wexton and her staff, in discussions that will help us continue to add value to the U.S. economy, support our American workers, and bring industry-wide benefits to consumers,” the spokesperson said.

Shein’s valuation and growth

Shein was last valued at $66 billion in May when it closed a $2 billion round of funding, The Wall Street Journal reported. That was down from a previous valuation of $100 billion in 2022 that followed successful results during the pandemic era.

“We estimated sales were only $4 billion in 2019 and they hit about $10 billion in U.S. dollars in 2020,” Sunny Zheng, a research analyst with Coresight Research, told Digital Commerce 360. “Shein definitely accelerated its sales growth during the pandemic.”

The company held about an 18% share in the global fast-fashion retail market in 2022, according to Zheng.

Despite the recent valuation drop, Shein has seen an overall arc of growth in online sales since it was founded in China more than a decade ago. (Shein’s website lists its launch year as 2012.) Its official headquarters has since relocated to Singapore.

As of November 2023, Shein ranked as one of the three fastest-growing online merchandise companies in Asia by web sales, according to Digital Commerce 360’s Asia Database. It’s 44.6% year-over-year growth in 2022 tied with Super Retail Group Ltd. and was surpassed only by JB Hi-Fi Ltd., which grew 53.0%, among companies being tracked.

Among the company’s four co-founders, CEO Xu Yangtian is already worth $21.5 billion, thanks to his 33% stake in the company, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The others, Miao Miao, Gu Xiaoqing and Ren Xiaoqing are each worth around $5 billion, resulting from 8% stakes, according to the same list.

When will Shein’s IPO happen?

Monday’s confidential filing could put Shein on track to go public in 2024. To get to that point, though, it will need to satisfy the SEC’s disclosure requirements.

“From a value and profitability perspective, I don’t worry too much about Shein, but there could be some transparency problems,” Zheng said. She expects sourcing, manufacturing, and financial disclosures to be the focus of questions that arise. “They need to convince the U.S. investors and securities authorities to believe that that they’re doing transparent business and doing good things.”

It has also increased its spending on federal lobbying, having spent at least $1.5 million so far in 2023, according to data tracked by OpenSecrets. Shein spent $280,000 on federal lobbying in all of 2022.

Shein’s forward-looking strategy may also be on display.

“They’re really targeting at young, female consumers,” said Zheng. “Therefore, I wonder if their current consumers become older, will Shein’s strategy change in the next 5-10 years?”

The retailer has already made inroads to expand its U.S. footprint. It announced a deal in August to acquire one-third of Sparc Group. As a result, Shein gained a stake in its fashion retail competitor Forever 21. That deal allowed Forever 21 products to be listed and sold next to Shein’s own inventory, giving U.S.-based stakeholders more interest in Shein’s fate.

“Shein has definitely been labeled as a China brand — or Chinese company,” said Zheng, “so if it wants to survive in the U.S. and on the [public] market, it needs to benefit more domestically in the U.S.” As it pushes ahead, she cited accommodating other brands on its platform or adopting alternative models such as resale as choices that might respond to those needs.

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Gaurav Dhingra

India is not only a rising giant in the global arena, but also a booming market for B2B ecommerce. With its fast-growing economy, large population, and digital transformation, India offers immense opportunities for businesses looking to sell their products and services to other businesses online. This article explores why India should be on your radar if you want to succeed in the B2B ecommerce space.

João Manuel

India’s B2B ecommerce market is one of the fastest-growing in the world. By 2030, Redseer projects it will reach $90 billion to $100 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV). Several factors are driving this growth, such as:

• The increasing demand from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for a variety of products and services, especially in sectors like packaging, textiles, apparel, and contract manufacturing. SMEs account for about 40% of India’s GDP and employ over 100 million people.
• The availability of affordable and reliable internet connectivity and smartphones, which enable online transactions and communication. India has over 624 million internet users and over 500 million smartphone users, making it one of the largest and fastest-growing digital markets in the world.
• The government’s initiatives to promote digitalization and ease of doing business, such as the Digital India campaign, the Aadhaar biometric identification system, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), and the Goods and Services Tax (GST). These initiatives have simplified online payments, reduced tax complexities, and improved transparency and efficiency.
• The emergence of innovative and disruptive B2B e-commerce platforms that connect buyers and sellers across the country and offer solutions for vendor management, supply chain automation, and supply chain financing.

India’s B2B ecommerce market is large, diverse and dynamic. It caters to different segments of buyers and sellers, such as wholesalers, retailers, manufacturers, distributors, service providers, and exporters. It also covers a wide range of product categories, such as industrial goods, consumer goods, agricultural products, healthcare products, and digital services.

India’s B2B ecommerce market is also open to international players who want to tap into this lucrative opportunity. According to a report by PayPal, cross-border B2B ecommerce in India is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28% from 2021 to 2026, reaching $54 billion. Some of the factors that are driving this growth are:

• The increasing demand from overseas buyers for high-quality and low-cost products from India, especially in sectors like textiles, handicrafts, pharmaceuticals, engineering goods, and software services.
• The increasing supply from Indian sellers who want to expand their market reach and access new customers across the globe.
• The availability of online platforms that facilitate cross-border trade by providing features like currency conversion, payment processing, logistics support, customs clearance, and dispute resolution. Some of these platforms include Amazon Business, Alibaba, eBay, TradeIndia, and IndiaMART.

India’s B2B e-commerce market is also poised to benefit from the recent developments in the global scenario, such as:

• The successful hosting of the G20 Summit in New Delhi onSeptember 9 and 10, 2023, which showcased India’s leadership role in addressing global challenges like climate change, sustainable development, digital transformation, multilateralism, and women empowerment.
• The signing of several trade deals and partnerships with key countries and regions like the United States, the European Union, the UK, Japan, Australia, ASEAN, Africa, and the Middle East, which enhanced India’s economic cooperation and integration with the world.
• The launch of several initiatives to boost India’s manufacturing sector and exports, such as the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, the Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-reliant India) campaign, the Make in India program, and the National Export Policy (NEP).

To sum up, India is an emerging powerhouse in the B2B ecommerce space that offers tremendous potential for growth and innovation. If you want to be part of this exciting journey, here are some tips to help you succeed:

• Understand the market dynamics and customer preferences in different regions and sectors of India. Customize your products and services according to the local needs and expectations.
• Leverage the existing online platforms that connect you with potential buyers and sellers in India. Alternatively, create your own online presence and brand identity that showcases your value proposition and differentiates you from the competition.
• Build trust and credibility with your Indian counterparts by providing quality products and services, timely delivery, transparent communication, and responsive customer support. Use online tools like ratings, reviews, testimonials, and certifications to demonstrate your reputation and reliability.
• Comply with the legal and regulatory requirements of doing business in India, such as taxation, customs, licensing, and intellectual property rights. Seek professional advice and assistance if needed.
• Stay updated with the latest trends and developments in the Indian B2B e-commerce market. Adapt to the changing customer demands and market opportunities. Innovate and experiment with new products, services, and business models.

India is a land of opportunities for B2B ecommerce players who are willing to explore, learn, and grow. With its huge market size, diverse customer base, digital infrastructure, supportive government policies, and global outlook, India is the place to be for B2B ecommerce in the 21st century.

About the Authors:

Gaurav Dhingra is the co-founder and CEO of New Delhi, India-based ecommerce marketing agency Refresh Ideas. João Manuel is the founder and CEO of international marketing and public relations firm Vereda, which operates without a specific headquarters but maintains a company website at Vereda.global, with content displayed in the English and Portuguese languages.

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