Mall and CZC websites to merge with Allegro online marketplace

Mall.cz, one of the largest e-commerce websites in the Czech Republic, will soon bid farewell to its independent platform and merge with the Polish-owned Allegro.cz marketplace. This consolidation comes as part of the ongoing efforts by the Allegro Group to stabilize the struggling Czech arm of its business.

According to a spokesperson for Allegro, the transfer of Mall.cz's offerings to the Allegro platform will be complete by the end of September. "After that, customers will be able to buy goods exclusively at the Mall.cz shop on Allegro," the company confirmed.

Polish e-commerce group acquired Mall.cz, along with other Mall Group assets, in 2021 for EUR 881 million (about CZK 22 billion). However, in 2022, the new owners admitted they had overpaid for the Mall Group, leading to a nearly 60 percent decrease in its book value.

Amid a decline in retail sales, Mall Group announced that it would close all of its brick-and-mortar stores in January 2023.

In an effort to turn things around, Allegro launched its Czech website in 2023 and has been promoting its marketplace strongly. The consolidation of Mall.cz and CZC.cz onto the Allegro platform is seen as a step towards financial stability for these stores.

The move will also affect CZC.cz, which Allegro also acquired. Similarly, CZC.cz’s main functions will be implemented within the Allegro site, although the web domain itself will remain.

Marcin Gruszka, spokesperson for the Allegro Group, said: "The main goal is to heal our Czech businesses. We are gradually turning Mall.cz and CZC.cz into merchants on the Allegro.cz platform and moving them to a common technical and software platform." This news comes shortly after reports of mass layoffs in the CZC and Mall e-shops.

Mall.cz is Czechia’s second-largest online web store (after Alza.cz), according to tech-news website CzechCrunch. CZC.cz comes in fifth position.

According to a survey from payment service Mastercard, nine in 10 people in Czechia say they shop online. Six out of 10 Czechs order goods at least once a month, and one in three once a week.