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The CEO of AliExpress in Spain and Portugal, William Wang, has announced that AliExpress will offer a click and collect option for AliExpress customers via El Corte Inglés. El Corte Inglés is Europe’s biggest department store, and AliExpress are looking to grow their relationship with the department store as they formed a partnership last year. From early 2020, AliExpress customers will be able to pick up their orders at El Corte Inglés stores.

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It has been a successful year for Alibaba and their relationship with Spain. They have expanded their footprint hugely in the country not only by offering click and collect in El Corte Inglés, but also through opening their first physical store in Spain in September.

Facebook is set to launch a new payment system which will be implemented across all three social media platforms including Facebook Messenger, Instagram and Whatsapp. Facebook Pay will enable users to shop, make donations, and transfer money between peers on its platforms. Although, customers can already send money via Facebook Messenger, and some users in the US can already make purchases on Instagram, but this represents a further push in integrating e-commerce into its business model.

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Previously, Whatsapp introduced catalogues to its platform, which enables retailers to display items, prices, product information and a direct link so that users can purchase the products of their website.

Amazon is set to launch its first non-Whole Food grocery store in LA next year. Despite the growing number of cashier-less Amazon Go convenience stores, its new non-Whole Food grocery store will feature conventional checkout technology. Furthermore, the store will be situated in a former Toys “R” Us location at a shopping centre.

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Amazon’s expansion in brick and mortar stores comes at a time when Walmart’s grocery business is booming. However, Amazon has realised that they can’t compete with Wallmart’s low affordable prices with its Whole Food’s high-end store, which its prices reflect on. However, Amazon’s non-Whole Food grocery will enable them to compete with Walmart fairly.

E-commerce platform eBay has partnered with payment giant Afterpay to enable users in Australia to pay for their purchases in instalments. The deal will allow 11 million monthly users to purchase goods from over 40,000 businesses in split payments. Afterpay offers interest-free debt by instalment services to over 30,000 retailers in the US, New Zealand and Australia. However, neither camps have confirmed whether they will be extending this option to other markets.

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Afterpay AKA Clearpay which is what trades under in the UK, also signed a deal with Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People and Boohoo in the UK earlier this year.

One of France’s biggest online retailers, Carrefour, is discussing plans to sell its online electronics store ‘Rue du Commerce’. They are currently in meetings with French e-commerce venture Shopinvest regarding plans to sell the online store to them. Carrefour is shifting its focus towards selling food rather than electronics, and this is why it is planning on saying farewell to Rue du Commerce.

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Carrefour is currently facing competition from larger online marketplaces such as Amazon.fr, and this may have had an impact on the decision to sell food rather than electronics. When Carrefour shifts its focus to food, it will see changes in its consumers, but this may lead to positive growth as many people in Europe shop online for groceries.