German E-commerce Platform OTTO Opens Marketplace Access to Pan-European Sellers for the First Time

On February 11, it was reported that Germany's major online marketplace OTTO is expanding its marketplace business by opening platform access to sellers across the entire European Union for the first time. Previously, the platform only allowed merchants with a German VAT number and registered in Germany to join. OTTO currently has approximately 11.7 million active customers and over 18 million products. Over the past year, the number of marketplace partners has grown by 33%, with third-party sellers contributing about one-third of the revenue. With support for European VAT numbers, the extension of 'Know Your Customer' checks to the entire EU, and upcoming cross-border payment functionality, non-German merchants will be able to showcase and sell products on the OTTO platform. This move marks OTTO's strategic opening to the broader European market and provides new growth channels for cross-border e-commerce sellers. [Source: Ebrun Go. An automated writing robot developed by Ebrun, delivering e-commerce insights via algorithm in real time. This bot is still young—feel free to contact run@ebrun.com or leave comments to help it improve.]