Let's talk MarketplacE
The Podcast for all Marketplace People
Starting July 15, Amazon is requiring strict delivery standards from FBM sellers in five EU markets – 90% on-time delivery, one-day processing, or deactivation looms from September. The catch: Amazon doesn’t always meet these same standards with its own FBA program. Valerie and Ingrid discuss in this news episode just how fair that really is...
Round about two thirds of all European online sales happen on online-marketplaces – surely that calls for a regular talk show!
Let’s talk Marketplace is the podcast where Valerie und Ingrid share their thoughts and insights into the marketplace world each week – sometimes just the two of them, sometimes with the help of knowledgable guests. We are entertaining, competent, out-spoken – and won’t stand for bullshit!
New episode out weekly in English
Connected Commerce – just another buzzword? In this episode, it quickly becomes clear that it is about much more than a trend. Ingrid speaks with Janine Hummel and Daniel Zemitzsch from Front Row about why many brands still think in channels while customers have long moved on to journeys. Budgets and KPIs are typically channel-driven,...
JD.com is acquiring Ceconomy – and from a European perspective, the deal raises far more questions than the headlines suggest. In this episode, Ingrid takes a deep dive with China expert Ed Sander. They discuss why JD is not treating Europe as a growth adventure, but as a strategic detour. They unpack why JD’s own...
The marketplace landscape is changing rapidly – not through isolated innovations, but through a fundamental redistribution of control. TikTok is building its own logistics infrastructure in Europe, Google is opening up agent-based commerce via the Universal Commerce Protocol, Amazon and eBay are closing their catalogs to AI agents, OpenAI is introducing a new fee tier...
Why is cross-border expansion so hard for marketplaces – even when the technology is ready? In this episode, Ingrid flips the usual seller-centric perspective and looks at internationalisation from the operator’s side. She is joined by Valentin Lennartz from OnBuy and Paul Cotsas from Octopia to unpack the classic chicken-and-egg problem of supply, sellers, and...
Spain is often seen as a price-driven market. In reality, it’s a speed-driven one. In this episode of Let’s Talk Marketplace, Ingrid talks to Romain Aymeric (The Agent) about why fashion brands struggle in Spain not because they’re too expensive, but because they’re too slow. They discuss very honestly why trend speed matters more than...
Agentic Commerce is fundamentally reshaping power dynamics in digital commerce. When AI agents take over purchase intent, product selection, and decision-making, platforms risk losing influence exactly where value is created today. In this episode Ingrid talks with Amazon expert Malte Karstan about whether Amazon is losing relevance in the agentic era – or deliberately choosing...
2025 was a defining year for both the marketplace industry and for Marketplace Universe itself. In this final episode of the year – and Valerie’s last before her maternity leave – Ingrid and Valerie take a clear, honest look at what shaped the past twelve months. They discuss the major industry shifts: the continued rise...
Black Week 2025 was not what many expected – and the data behind it is unmistakable. Ingrid speaks with Benjamin Weyrich from the e-commerce agency Front Row about hard facts: why brands see almost no growth without deals, why profitability continues to decline, and why the first deal day has now become more important than...
The EU will abolish the €150 de-minimis threshold in early 2026 – but will this really slow down Temu, Shein or AliExpress? In this episode, Ingrid talks with China-commerce expert Björn Ognibeni about why the impact will be far smaller than many hope. They explore how Chinese platforms easily absorb new duties, why Europe’s true...