E-commerce Features in Eastern Europe.

Insights from the European E-Commerce Report 2024. Eastern Europe has the lowest internet user penetration (83%) and online shopping rates (53% in 2023, projected to reach 57% in 2024). The region generates the least revenue in European e-commerce — 2% or €19.1 billion.

🇦🇱Albania

Despite 85% internet penetration, only 37% of residents shop online. However, 95% order from local sellers.

🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina

E-commerce penetration matches Albania's but with even higher internet usage (88%). Three-quarters of shoppers buy locally, while a quarter purchase from the EU or other countries. The e-commerce market is relatively young and growing, particularly among the 25-45 age group.

🇧🇬Bulgaria

By 2024, half of the population will engage in e-commerce. Like Albanians, 95% prefer local products. Online shopping accounts for just 8% of total retail turnover, leaving significant room for growth.

🇭🇷Croatia

One of the most developed countries in the region in terms of online shoppers (62%). While local products dominate (84%), many shop from other EU countries (47%).

🇲🇩 Moldova

Moldova has the lowest internet penetration (61%) and e-commerce adoption (27%) in Europe, with almost no growth.

🇲🇪 Montenegro

The second-lowest e-commerce adoption in the region (30%) despite high internet penetration (89%).

🇲🇰 North Macedonia

Online shoppers are expected to remain under half the population in 2024 (46%).

🇷🇴 Romania

Romania is relatively advanced in Eastern Europe, with e-commerce penetration at 55%. Growth in online shoppers is driven by increased internet access and reduced delivery costs, particularly noticeable in rural areas.

🇷🇸 Serbia

Similar to Croatia in terms of e-commerce penetration (62%), but leads the region in local product purchases (98%).

🇺🇦Ukraine

Online shopping adoption continues to grow steadily and is projected to reach the highest rate in the region by 2024 — 64%.

One-third of Amazon holiday season hires return each year.

Employees looking to join Amazon for the first time, or to come back as rehires, will receive improved on-the-job safety training, including sessions focused on safety basics, emergency response preparedness and a corresponding site tour, and both general and job-specific safety training.

All seasonal employees earn at least $18 per hour and have access to comprehensive benefits like health care.

When the reflection in the mirror outshines any AI-powered virtual fitting room.

OpenAI May Enter the Market with Its Own Web Browser.

The startup is considering developing a web browser that would support ChatGPT, according to The Information. This move could position OpenAI as a direct competitor to Google.

It is known that the company has already discussed launching a search service with website and app developers, including Conde Nast and Redfin. Additionally, the startup has held talks about integrating AI features into Samsung devices, one of Google’s key partners.

Developing a browser is likely to intensify competition between the startup and Google, whose position is already under pressure due to an ongoing major antitrust investigation. For OpenAI, creating a browser seems like a natural step in its evolution.

5 ways Amazon is using AI to improve holiday shopping.

Amazon is using artificial intelligence (AI) to make holiday shopping seamless and convenient for customers around the world. The holiday shopping season kicks off with Black Friday and Cyber Monday. List shows how AI touches every part of the customer journey, starting from a personalized Amazon homepage to a package sorted by a robot, all the way to the delivery driver dropping it off.

1️⃣ Stocking the right products in the right locations

2️⃣ Helping employees fulfill orders with the world’s largest fleet of mobile industrial robots

3️⃣ Sorting packages for fast delivery

4️⃣ Expecting the unexpected on the road

5️⃣ Picking the best route to your doorstep from a multitude of options.

Make dreams happen this season, with a little holiday magic from Amazon.

This year, the American online giant Amazon launched the "Midnight Opus" campaign, dedicated to small, everyday acts of kindness that can bring joy. The commercial tells the story of a theater janitor whose hidden talent as a singer is discovered and celebrated by his colleagues.

The final touch is the delivery of a tuxedo from Amazon, a bit of magic that helps his dream come true. While his colleagues take their seats, the janitor delivers a heartfelt rendition of the classic 1965 track "What the World Needs Now Is Love," showcasing his vocal talent. It’s hard not to agree with the message from the world’s largest e-commerce player.

Bitcoin breaks through $100,000, and the market follows suit.

Amid the buzz surrounding the U.S. elections, Bitcoin's growth has also propelled other projects, including TON.

Cloud adoption plus AI will contribute trillions of dollars to global GDP.

In 2023, cloud adoption overall contributed more than $1 trillion to the global gross domestic product (GDP), and cloud-enabled AI generated more than $98 billion in GDP.

Looking forward, one of the studies projects that between 2024 and 2030, global GDP based on cloud adoption will surpass $12 trillion, and cloud-enabled AI will account for an additional $1.5 trillion.

This is results оf research from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Telecom Advisory Services.

Wrapping Up the European E-Commerce Report 2024: Moving to Southern Europe.

The internet penetration rate here is comparable to Central Europe (91%), but the share of online shoppers is noticeably lower (59% vs. 70%).
The region accounts for 19% of total e-commerce revenue—€181.8 billion. This is the second-highest figure after Western Europe.

🇨🇾 Cyprus

The number of e-commerce customers is unstable, but in 2024 it may increase from 57% to 65%. Many customers shop both locally (81%) and from other EU countries (81%).

🇬🇷 Greece

E-commerce penetration decreased slightly in 2023, from 59% to 58%, and remains at this level. The vast majority of Greeks prefer to buy local products (86%).

🇮🇹 Italy

Just over half of Italians shop online (53%). Shopping destinations are diverse: within Italy (74%), from other EU countries (38%), and globally (25%). E-commerce is still developing in the country, so various crises have not hindered market growth.

🇲🇹 Malta

Online shoppers make up 68% of the population, with 76% finding local goods. Only 64% order from the EU, while 55% shop internationally.

🇵🇹Portugal

E-commerce penetration is slowing, with a potential increase of just 1 percentage point in 2024, reaching 56%. Most Portuguese shoppers stick with local sellers (84%).

🇪🇸 Spain

Spain has the highest e-commerce penetration in the region (70%) and the highest internet penetration overall (97%). Local shoppers overwhelmingly prefer Spanish products (91%), with no strong preference between EU goods and non-EU goods (32% vs. 29%). Convenience and attractive offers increasingly drive Spaniards, especially younger consumers, to choose e-commerce.

Amazon workers in 20 countries to protest or strike on Black Friday.

Workers and their representatives to press US retailer to respect their rights and take action on the climate crisis. Thousands of Amazon workers are expected to protest or strike in more than 20 countries during Black Friday to press for better workers’ rights and climate action from the US retailer.

Workers and representatives from unions and workers’ groups intend to join protests against the Seattle-based company’s practices between Black Friday and Cyber Monday (29 November and 2 December), one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year.

Action is planned in big cities across the US, Germany, the UK, Turkey, Canada, India, Japan, Brazil and other countries. It is coordinated by the Make Amazon Pay campaign, which calls on Amazon – founded by Jeff Bezos, the world’s second-richest man – to pay its workers fairly and respect their right to join unions, pay its fair share of taxes, and commit to environmental sustainability.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has invested in the development of "eternal life" pills for the wealthy.

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and ChatGPT’s Sam Altman are among the latest in a long line of American tycoons to throw their wealth behind regenerative medicine.

Bezos is reported to have invested $3 billion — the biggest biotechnology company launch of all time — in Altos Labs, which he cofounded with Russian-born billionaire Yuri Milner in 2021. The startup hired top scientists to research how to reverse the aging process and pursue something called biological reprogramming technology, which would allow scientists to rejuvenate cells in a lab.

Amazon is committed to decarbonizing its delivery fleet and has rolled out more than 20,000 custom electric delivery vans across the U.S.

Amazon co-founded The Climate Pledge in 2019 and made a commitment to achieve net-zero carbon by 2040. As part of that Pledge, Amazon also announced a partnership with Rivian to bring 100,000 electric delivery vehicles on the road by 2030 and got to work on designing a new state-of-the-art delivery vehicle.

In three short years, a simple sketch turned into the custom electric delivery vehicles on the road today. With its commitment to have at least 100,000 electric delivery vehicles on the road by 2030, Amazon will eliminate millions of metric tons of carbon per year.

This year, Amazon's Black Friday sale covers all product categories, including electronics, essentials for leisure, home goods, and household items, featuring tens of thousands of deals.

As with Prime Day, the sale includes popular items from brands like Apple, Dyson, Shark, Garmin, Ninja, Beats, and Keurig. However, unlike Amazon Prime Day or Prime Big Deal Days, shoppers do not need a Prime membership to access (most) discounts.

That said, a Prime membership still offers its perks. Prime subscribers can enjoy free Prime delivery: millions of Amazon's most popular items are available for same-day or next-day delivery.

The UAE will host the Dubai Shopping Festival.

The annual Dubai Shopping Festival will open in Dubai in December. It will be held for the 30th time. The organizers promise shopaholics discounts of up to 90%, as well as private screenings, concerts, drone shows and even giveaways for brand new cars.

It’s a good idea to attract tourists to the UAE, as well as promote local and non-local fashion brands.

Chinese crypto investor Justin Sun still ate the banana he bought for $6.2 million Chinese crypto businessman and founder of the TRON crypto platform Justin Sun, as promised, gave a performance during which he ate that same banana.

We are talking about the work of the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan “The Comedian” - a banana glued to the wall with tape. The peculiarity of the work is that its owner can change the bananas without changing the uniqueness and value of the work of art.

Let Rufus help you find tailored gifts and inspiration this holiday season.

Here are seven ways you can use Rufus to help you find the perfect gifts, decorations, and more this holiday season.

1. Find the most popular gifts
2. Get gift ideas and inspiration
3. Compare gift and holiday décor options
4. Prepare for holiday hosting
5. Get cooking advice
6. Explore new crafts

Users bypass Google Search and go directly to Amazon.

Amazon earns "billions of dollars from advertisers" because users go directly to the marketplace to choose products, bypassing Google search. The number of clicks on Google ads has decreased by 8% compared to last year, according to data from the advertising platform Skai.

Google's popularity is also threatened by a decline in overall search result quality due to the proliferation of AI-generated content.

Not sure what to sell on major European or American marketplaces?

Stay updated with the latest trends on this channel. Subscribe, and you’ll always have a list of top-selling products from Amazon, eBay, and other marketplaces with high consumer demand at your fingertips.

Get inspired with ideas to grow your business on marketplaces and offer products that people are eager to buy.

Delivery Hero Boosts Size of Talabat’s Listing to $2 Billion.

Delivery Hero SE boosted the size of its Middle Eastern unit’s initial public offering to as much as $2 billion, setting the deal up to be the United Arab Emirates’ biggest listing of the year.

The German firm now plans to sell a 20% stake in Talabat, up from 15%, it said in a statement on Wednesday. The deal is set to price at the 1.60 dirhams ($0.44) per share, the top end of a range that started at 1.50 dirhams, according to terms seen by Bloomberg News.

That would imply a market capitalization for Talabat of about $10.2 billion. Emirates NBD, one of the banks on the IPO, previously said that Talabat could be valued at up to $14.4 billion, while Bloomberg Intelligence estimated an enterprise value of as much as $12 billion.

We’ve found a great channel that keeps track of important changes and news in the e-commerce and crypto industries. Here, myths about how easy it is to trade on marketplaces and earn with Bitcoin or Toncoin are debunked.

Subscribe to the channel to separate "the wheat from the chaff" and read only valuable and verified information about markets where big money is at play.

Amazon built a new generation of foundation models.

With the ability to process text, image, and video as prompts, customers can use Amazon Nova-powered generative AI applications to understand videos, charts, and documents, or generate videos and other multimedia content.

The new Amazon Nova models available in Amazon Bedrock include:

✅ Amazon Nova Micro, a text-only model that delivers the lowest latency responses at very low cost.
✅ Amazon Nova Lite, a very low-cost multimodal model that is lightning fast for processing image, video, and text inputs.
✅ Amazon Nova Pro, a highly capable multimodal model with the best combination of accuracy, speed, and cost for a wide range of tasks.
✅ Amazon Nova Premier, the most capable of Amazon’s multimodal models for complex reasoning tasks and for use as the best teacher for distilling custom models (available in the Q1 2025 timeframe).
✅ Amazon Nova Canvas, a state-of-the-art image generation model.
✅ Amazon Nova Reel, a state-of-the-art video generation model.