The Column – Market Insights
In the last article in the “Market Insights” column, we talked about the European Union’s decision to launch the new plan “Made in Europe”which is part of the broad EU strategy launched between 2025 and early 2026 with the “Industrial Accelerator Act”. The basic idea is not simple support for the internal market, but a real one reconstruction of the sovereignty of European manufacturing, the flagship of our economy.
We then asked ourselves what we can do we consumers to help our continent become stronger and more independent and to get him out of this very uncomfortable position of “buffer” between the increasingly less reliable America and the increasingly stronger Asia? Our thesis is that on the consumption side it is often a question of habit that keeps us tied to non-European suppliers, of inconvenience in changing, of the time needed to do so, sometimes of costs. And so a We do some of the work for you. After the indications on the technology side, today we talk about other sectors in which we are going to identify valid European alternatives to products and services Americans/foreigners.
Here are the five categories in which we found something working and usable: Marketplaces, Books, Travel and Transport, Music and Podcasts, Movies and TV Series. Do you want to know what the 26 European alternatives very valid ones that we have found? Keep reading!
- Marketplaces: fed up with Amazon? Rather difficult to be given the breadth of the range on offer, the speed of delivery, the good after-sales service and the competitive prices. But there are three valid European alternatives called Privalia (France, Veepee group, very valid for fashion, home, beauty, leisure, sport), Galaxus (Switzerland, furniture, home, garden, IT, toys, beauty, office), Zalando (Germany, clothing, sports, accessories, footwear).
- Books, guides and magazines: the charm of entering a bookshop, at least for the writer, remains unchanged and incomparable, but sometimes it is convenient to buy a book with two clicks. Here too, Amazon has a very large catalogue, but when talking about alternatives for us Italians, let’s remember that LaFeltrinelli, Mondadori Store and IBS libri they have excellent websites, often even better prices than the American giant and a fantastic home delivery service or better yet bookshop delivery service. If you are looking for something more “exotic” or rare or printed some time ago I think Waterstones Online (UK), the online shop of the historic English bookshop chain, is truly a “must”.
Finally, in world of audiobooks if you want to avoid Amazon (with its Audible), there are very strong European champions: StorytelSwedish, Audible’s main competitor in Europe with an equally huge catalog, ability to read eBooks (in addition to audio) and more flexible plans for students.
- Travel, flights and transport: the market is literally dominated by the USA with the Booking Holdings group (Booking.com, founded by a Dutchman 30 years ago but then sold to the Yankees, Priceline, Kayak, Agoda, Cheapflights, Momondo, Rentalcars.com) and Expedia Group (Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Vrbo, Travelocity, Orbitz, Ebookers, Cheap Tickets, CarRentals.com, Trivago), both giants listed on the stock exchange in the United States. If we add Airbnb to it, the picture is clear. What to do?
For the only real European alternatives we have to thank the Swiss-German world since they exist Lastminute.com (Switzerland offering flights, travel packages, car rentals), Holidu and Home to Go (both Germany, but with a site for Italy that allows you to find houses for rent all over the world) and HRS (Hotel Reservation Service, also German but with an Italian website and really very practical).
For airline reservations, given that it is always better to make them directly on the companies’ websites, we have the Spanish one (actually owned by various funds and banks, however mostly European) Edreams Odigeo, a small group that works well under the Opodo, eDreams and GO Voyages brands.
Finally, on the train side things are simple given that the trains are very well known Trainline it is English and works perfectly, even when you want to book trips with more than one train company.
- Music and podcasts: in this sector it is Europe that dominates with Spotify which, despite being a multinational listed in the USA, is of Swedish origin two co-founders they still control 25% of the capital and hold 75% of the voting rights. It has an immense offer, multiple types of subscriptions that favor families, a high-performance and very friendly app.
As an alternative, Deezer (French) is the most similar. It has an immense catalog (more than 120 million tracks, including songs from independent labels), a great interface and greater attention to the remuneration of musicians. Always French, too Qobuz it is absolutely worth mentioning, the best choice for i sound quality purists: if you have a good sound system or serious headphones, it is considered superior to Apple or Amazon Music, and it is the only platform that allows both streaming and purchasing High Resolution files.
If you love it electronic musicremixes, DJ sets or you want to discover independent artists before they become famous, the platform SoundCloudfounded in Berlin, is unbeatable: more than a consumption platform, it is a creative ecosystem where new scenes (from electronic to experimental rap) emerge before being absorbed by the global industry. There is also always German Idagio, specializing exclusively in classical musicwith a search system that catalogs composers, conductors and soloists, something that the American “generalist” services do not do.
- Movies & TV Series: here the challenge is tougher because the US giants (Netflix, Disney, Amazon, Paramount, Universal) dominate production. In Italy we also know how Sky remains the point of reference for quality films and TV series, but it is also American (owned by Comcast despite having historic European roots and editorial offices).
There are very strong local realities that do not focus so much on the volume of content but on the quality and ability to describe different cultural identities. In this sense MUBI (English) is the perfect platform if you are a lover of auteur cinemaindependent productions, festivals (Cannes, Venice) and classics. Also ARTE.tv (French-German) is very similar and offers much of its streaming content for free, documentaries, art films, TV series and international investigations, often also available in Italian. Don’t underestimate the Italian alternatives either: RaiPlay / Mediaset Infinity they offer catalogs of films (including international ones) that you often don’t find on US platforms, while Chili allows you to rent or purchase films (even the latest cinema releases) without a monthly subscription.
We then mention two giants that are not fully European as properties, but strongly designed and rooted for Europe, often giving space to European cinema which struggles to find visibility on American platforms. The first is SkyShowtime: even though the contents come from Paramount and Universal, it was created specifically for the European market and is managed with a strong continental imprint. Finally, we have Rakuten TV, founded in Spain (although now part of the Japanese Rakuten group), which works a lot with European catalogs and partners and is one of the few services that has tried to build an alternative model to “all subscription” streaming. If Netflix is an all-inclusive subscription, Rakuten TV is focused on rental/purchase of individual films (it excels in offering those just out of the cinema with preview rental).
Meditate people, meditate. Europe can be helped. See you next time to talk about markets again.
