The west is settled, now it's the east's turn – this is roughly how the current rush on the markets in Central and Eastern Europe can be described: It is a crucial phase in the battle for market leadership in countries such as the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary. Because there is so much potential in these markets, Valerie and Ingrid have brought in a specialist for their podcast: David Cicanek, who, after many years in an Amazon agency, is now a self-employed consultant in Prague, supporting brands in their marketplace business in these countries.  In the podcast, they discuss the reasons for the great interest in the CEE markets, which players in which countries have a good chance of becoming market leaders, and why Western European marketplaces have a relatively easy chance of securing top positions. They also look at why local characteristics give domestic players a head start and why Shein and Temu have extremely good chances in Central and Eastern Europe. Newsflash: - MyTheresa takes over Yoox Net-a-Porter. - Zalando and About You have raised their revenue forecasts for 2024. – Shein has exceeded the £1.5 billion sales mark in the UK, leaving Asos and Boohoo far behind. - In several shopping malls across Spain and the Netherlands, 'Shein Outlets' have begun to pop up, but these stores don't belong to the Chinese online platform, and it is as of yet unclear who is behind them. - In 2023/24, cross-border e-commerce sales reached 326 billion euros, 69 percent of which were generated on marketplaces. Note from the sponsor Channable: Channable offers a solution that can map the trade on almost all platforms - including marketplaces, of course. Products can be managed, advertised, sold and analyzed across channels and teams. This means that the marketplace team, the e-commerce team, the social media team, and performance marketing all work with the same software. The solution focuses on automation. Curious? Then listen again to episode 82 of “Let's talk Marketplace”: Tom Maier, Head of New Business DACH at Channable, is a guest and discusses with Ingrid when a full-service solution makes sense and when a best-of-breed approach is better. Or you can visit Channable: https://www.channable.com Note from the sponsor Base.com: Base.com – formerly known as BaseLinker – is a provider of SaaS solutions specifically for e-commerce. Founded in Poland in 2006, the core of the company today is a platform for marketplace integration and the automation of processes such as order fulfillment and inventory management. The SaaS approach makes the solution cost-effective and flexible to use. Base.com currently has 350 employees and is represented in 9 countries. Further internationalization is on the agenda. Base.com's customers include, among others, Obi, MediaMarktSaturn and Philips. The contact person is Radek Klouda Chapters: 00:00 Introduction to Internationalization in E-Commerce 03:09 Meet David Cikanek: Expert in CEE Markets 11:38 Newsflash 22:03 E-Commerce Growth in Central Eastern Europe 24:57 The Battle for Market Dominance in CEE 26:42 The Role of Marketplaces in Eastern European E-Commerce 34:03 Allegro's Expansion and Challenges 36:40 The Rise of Skoutz in Greece 39:21 Marketplace Dynamics: Eastern vs. Western 41:50 Fashion Market Insights 44:30 The Future of E-Commerce in Central Eastern Europe 48:45 Service Provider Landscape in CEE