I think it will definitely hurt a lot of brick and mortars because Europa allowed them to buy things from different brands and basically mix and match their minimum orders rather than hit a minimum order size by brand by ordering direct. On the other hand, some that can afford to buy direct will likely get better % off deals than they were getting by going thru Europa.
Europa had already stopped selling a lot of the smaller brands that they used to sell; or some of the brands had stopped selling to Europa (rumors of slow pay or not paying some brands at all).
I think Europa definitely was hurt by a variety of things over the last couple of years:
- Some of the big brands like Nutrex pulling out of Europa and mostly abandoning brick and mortar to focus on direct sales.
- The Covid situation closing so many brick and mortars last year that Europa depended on for either months or permanently.
- The general number of brick and mortars closing due to Amazon.
- So many brands that Europa helped grow and supported that pulled out and focused on direct sales, basically competing with Europa.
By last year, Europa had become a place for more bars, snacks, and CBD products rather than carrying the wide selection of sports nutrition products that they did at one time; and I understand why - they were trying to hold on any way they could.
It's very sad for the industry overall.
