<p>A day after the European Union dialed up its scrutiny of fast-fashion giant Shein, the bloc&#8217;s executive branch said that it has sent a fresh request for information (RFI) to the e-commerce platform under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The European Commission oversees larger platforms&#8217; compliance with a subset of DSA rules in areas like [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Indian food delivery group Zomato plans to rename itself as Eternal in an effort to make a strategic shift as its quick-commerce unit, Blinkit, becomes a significant driver of growth. The Gurugram-based company, which joined India&#8217;s benchmark index, BSE Sensex, in December, said on Thursday the name change would better reflect its expanding business portfolio, [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Chinese e-commerce and fast fashion giant Shein is facing fresh scrutiny in the European Union in relation to consumer protection rules following the launch of a coordinated action by the bloc&#8217;s Consumer Protection Cooperation Network (CPCN). The action is being conducted with reference to the EU&#8217;s Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, Consumer Rights Directive, Unfair Contracts [&hellip;]</p>

<p>An estimated 20% to 30% of all inventory in the U.S. is surplus, with much of it ending up in landfills. A startup called Sotira wants to help address this problem: It leverages AI to help companies offload and monetize their surplus inventory. Sotira partners with brands to offload millions of pounds of surplus grocery, [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Chinese fast-fashion platform Shein has relaunched in India through a partnership with local conglomerate Reliance&#8217;s retail chain, nearly five years after Shein was banned amid diplomatic tensions between New Delhi and Beijing. The new Shein India Fast Fashion app, developed and launched by billionaire Mukesh Ambani&#8217;s Reliance Retail, marks the firm&#8217;s significant return to one [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Amazon is eliminating roles in its Communications and Sustainability departments, per an internal memo seen by TechCrunch.</p>

<p>If you&#8217;ve ever tried to book a venue for a company event, you&#8217;ll know how onerous a task it can be. You have to contact multiple vendors, wait for quotes, evaluate them, see if you can get a good deal, and then get all that approved. So it makes sense that depending on the size [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Quick-commerce startup Zepto has moved its domicile to India from Singapore, joining a growing number of Indian startups that have moved their headquarters home ahead of an IPO in the country. The transition marks the fastest shift of registered headquarters to India by a startup in the country, according to Zepto&#8217;s chief financial officer, Ramesh [&hellip;]</p>

<p>The U.K.&#8217;s antitrust regulator has reached an agreement with Google to counter the scourge of fake online reviews. The internet giant has committed to several remedies. Bogus endorsements have blighted the web since the creation of user reviews, which is why regulators around the world have been upping the ante on tech companies to put [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Fintech giant Stripe is laying off 300 people, according to a leaked memo reported on Tuesday by Business Insider. The affected employees are “largely in product, engineering, and operations roles,” the memo said. Despite the layoffs, Chief People Officer Rob McIntosh said that Stripe intends to still grow its headcount by 17% “to land at [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Fintech giant Stripe is laying off 300 people, according to a leaked memo reported on Tuesday by Business Insider. The affected employees are “largely in product, engineering, and operations roles,” the memo said. Despite the layoffs, Chief People Officer Rob McIntosh said that Stripe intends to still grow its headcount by 17% “to land at [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Payments and financial solutions are two-a-penny at this point, but mostly for online e-commerce. What about physical stores? In 2023 Qomodo, a Milan-based &#8220;all-in-one&#8221; payment methods aggregator for physical merchants, came out with a €34.5 million ($36.9 million) pre-seed round (mostly debt), which we covered, to expand the BNPL model into other categories. It’s now [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Payments and financial solutions are two-a-penny at this point, but mostly for online e-commerce. What about physical stores? In 2023 Qomodo, a Milan-based &#8220;all-in-one&#8221; payment methods aggregator for physical merchants, came out with a €34.5 million ($36.9 million) pre-seed round (mostly debt), which we covered, to expand the BNPL model into other categories. It’s now [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Zomato&#8217;s quick-commerce business, Blinkit, is accelerating its expansion in India, but it expects losses to continue piling up as competition intensifies in India&#8217;s instant delivery market. Blinkit now aims to have up to 2,000 dark stores (small warehouses in residential areas that exclusively service online orders), a year ahead of its previous forecast. The company [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Zomato&#8217;s quick-commerce business, Blinkit, is accelerating its expansion in India, but it expects losses to continue piling up as competition intensifies in India&#8217;s instant delivery market. Blinkit now aims to have up to 2,000 dark stores (small warehouses in residential areas that exclusively service online orders), a year ahead of its previous forecast. The company [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Amazon has agreed to acquire Indian buy-now, pay-later startup Axio, deepening its push into financial services in one of its fastest-growing markets. The e-commerce group, which has held an equity stake in Axio for six years, signed the acquisition agreement in December after completing due diligence, the Indian startup said in a blog post. Financial [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Amazon has agreed to acquire Indian buy-now, pay-later startup Axio, deepening its push into financial services in one of its fastest-growing markets. The e-commerce group, which has held an equity stake in Axio for six years, signed the acquisition agreement in December after completing due diligence, the Indian startup said in a blog post. Financial [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Global fashion brands are struggling with billions of dollars&#8217; worth of unsold inventory.&nbsp;Mostly, these brands avoid reselling in core markets like the U.K. and the U.S. to prevent market cannibalization. Meanwhile, emerging markets like Africa heavily rely on secondhand clothing imports, but 30% to 40% of these items are deemed unusable upon arrival, leading to [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Global fashion brands are struggling with billions of dollars&#8217; worth of unsold inventory.&nbsp;Mostly, these brands avoid reselling in core markets like the U.K. and the U.S. to prevent market cannibalization. Meanwhile, emerging markets like Africa heavily rely on secondhand clothing imports, but 30% to 40% of these items are deemed unusable upon arrival, leading to [&hellip;]</p>

<p>E-commerce giant eBay has announced plans to acquire Caramel, a startup that helps car sellers and buyers complete the final steps of the transaction — including verification, financing, paperwork, ownership transfer, insurance, and more. As eBay has grown through the years, it has had to evolve to remain competitive — last year, for instance, the [&hellip;]</p>