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Blog

Amazon In Sweden: An Undefeatable Rival?

Dickel Sooriah - August 14, 2020
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For the first time, Amazon will be entering the Nordics with a dedicated website for Sweden. By expanding operations and building a local presence, the eCommerce giant intends to grow a strong and loyal customer base in the country.

“We are optimistic that, by focusing on the things we believe customers will place the greatest emphasis on – low prices, a wide range and fast deliveries – we will eventually be able to win the trust of Swedish customers,” Alex Ootes, Vice President for EU Expansion at Amazon, said.

The launch of Amazon in Sweden may drastically change the country’s competitive landscape. It hence became a concern for many local retailers. Will companies be playing a game they can’t win? Nothing could be less certain.

In the Nordics, eCommerce is growing at an unprecedented rate. Last year, Swedish consumers spent around €16.86 billion online. So how can local brick and mortar businesses keep up with the trend and remain relevant in the face of new competitors?

By combining their market knowledge with a successful platform business model, companies have all the cards in hand to be fierce opponents for Amazon.

With a marketplace, they can provide customers with a wider assortment to fight Amazon's range of choice and focus more on customer experience with improved stock and supply chain logistics.

To cope with the Amazon effect, Swedish companies like Afound and Åhléns have already successfully transformed their traditional business model into a platform business model, helping them benefit from the same agility and flexibility as the world’s largest online retailer.

These Platform Pioneers and many more are transforming into digital-first companies and leveraging their platforms to take on whatever comes next, whether it be a pandemic or Amazon.

Interested in learning more? Join Mirakl on September 9th for the Platform Pioneer Summit.

Afound gives fashion a new life with a marketplace

In 2018, Swedish brand Afound launched its curated marketplace that was soon to be a leading marketplace for deals within circular fashion.

The fashion retailer founded by H&M Group quickly understood that to remain relevant in the face of the competition, it needed to adapt its strategy by providing customers with a more convenient way to do shopping.

Since its launch, Afound has achieved:

  • A wide range of choice for its customers, with more than 180,000 offers on its marketplace

  • Partnership with over 300 brands

  • Selling 0% new material on its website, accomplishing the ultimate sustainable goal

  • Launch in 3 new countries: the Netherlands, Germany and Austria

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Growing assortment with a marketplace: the case of Åhléns

To support the overall growth of its online sales and face the arrival of competitors like Amazon on the Swedish eCommerce market, Åhléns decided to turn towards the marketplace model.

With 57 stores in Sweden and 2 million loyalty card users, the largest department store chain in the country took advantage of a strong brand equity and the platform business model to drive range extension, enable sales of large products and boost in-store traffic.

In addition to selling existing categories like beauty, fashion and homeware on its marketplace, Åhléns was able to expand into new categories such as large furniture, home decor and outdoor living products.

Åhléns' marketplace already has 47 sellers onboarded and enabled to create 7,000 new offers, helping the brand grow its product assortment and remain an important player within the eCommerce industry. <img src="https://images.ctfassets.net/unh3s9ymfsj3/5zlf4jFMW7sp8Fq9H8HJyD/0b88df911439bc69dfd77db7c1d427d5/Capture_d_e_cran_2020-08-12_a__13.25.35.png"> Want to learn more about how you can transform your business with the platform model? Visit https://www.miraklsummit2020.com/ to register for our Platform Pioneer Summit on September 9.

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Dickel Sooriah,

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