Axel Springer will discontinue operations of the comparison site Ladenzeile and its international equivalents named Shopalike by the end of this month. A significant factor in this decision is likely the reduced visibility on Google.
Ladenzeile was founded in 2008 by Rocket Internet, the incubator behind Zalando, Delivery Hero, and HelloFresh. In 2011, Axel Springer, one of Europe’s largest publishing groups, acquired the comparison site and integrated it with the previously acquired comparison site Idealo.
As of June 30, Ladenzeile, which operates under that name in Germany and Austria, and the ten Shopalike sites in other European countries such as France, Italy, Poland, and Spain, will cease operations.
This information was conveyed in an email sent to partners without further explanation, as reported by OMR, a platform covering the digital economy in Germany.
“On June 30, the curtain falls for Ladenzeile and Shopalike.”
“The management of Ladenzeile, together with the shareholders, has decided to terminate business operations,” a spokesperson confirmed to OMR. “This decision was, of course, not taken hastily.” The seventy employees have been offered “extensive severance packages.”
The spokesperson attributed the closure of Ladenzeile to the “changed market situation,” without providing specifics. It has become increasingly challenging for comparison sites to attract traffic from Google in recent years. Idealo had already taken action against Google’s alleged market power abuse five years ago.
Axel Springer still sees potential in price comparison services but appears to be focusing on Idealo.
“We are directing all our attention and resources towards growing our price comparison offering. We hope that the Digital Markets Act will provide an additional positive boost to this highly profitable and successful business model.”
