Consumer behavior

Online stores in Belgium have generated a total turnover of 8.2 billion euros in 2019. This is an increase of 17 percent compared to the situation one year before. One out of every four euros generated by Belgian online shops came from foreign shoppers.

Ecommerce in Sweden has showed double-digit growth last year. The online retail industry increased by 13 percent and was worth 87 billion Swedish kronor (8.24 billion euros) at the end of that year.

About three out of four Polish consumers see environmentally-unfriendly behavior of sellers when they are shopping online. Among this behavior is the use of film for packing shipments, packing food products in plastic bags and packing small products in too large packages with fillers.

More than half of online shoppers in Germany use customer reviews to help them make a buying decision. Young people in particular rely on the experiences that other buyers had with a certain product. Aside from customer reviews, price comparison websites and tips from friends and family are also often used.

Consumers in Germany will order products online with a total value of 70 billion euros this year. But every sixth parcel will be returned. In order to contain this process a bit, a legally required return fee could help, economic researchers say.

Just 69 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises in Ireland have a website. And only 32 percent of these online companies sell products or services online. By not selling online, SMEs are losing their share of the Ireland's €12.3 billion ecommerce market.

Children are looking for shops that are ethically conscious. Almost one in five want to buy plastic-free products that are sustainable and most kids aren't that patient when it comes to the delivery of goods.

How often do customers in Europe purchase cosmetics online? And where do they but them? A new study shines light on this topic, showing how European women purchase cosmetics online.

Bazaarvoice, a company that offers solutions for product reviews and other user-generated content, has acquired Influenster. This is a product discovery and reviews platform with almost 6 million users worldwide.

Online marketplace Wish appears to increasingly lock out user accounts in Germany after users returned items too many times. This also means customers lose access to the customer service and can no longer exercise their buyer rights.

Meeting consumer demands for more environmental goods and services are the biggest challenge for marketers and supply chain managers in the United Kingdom and France. Remanufacturing products costs nearly 3.5 million per year in these two countries.

Many top retailers in the United Kingdom and Germany have a long way to go when it comes to customer centricity. A lot of major ecommerce companies in these European countries don't meet the expectation of online shoppers, something which could damage loyalty and revenues.

Most online shoppers would order more in the long-run if an online retailer offers free returns. And a significant 84 percent of shoppers won't even come back to a store if they've encountered a poor returns experience.

Amazon is very popular in the United Kingdom. Recent research shows that almost nine in ten Brits are Amazon shoppers. And last year, more people have increased their shopping with Amazon than decreased it. Seven in ten Amazon users in the UK buy from the ecommerce giant at least once a month.

Consumers in the United Kingdom spent the most money online on vehicle-related items. Holidays were also a favorite destination for shoppers looking to spend their money online. And it's fashion and fast food takeaways that Britons regretted the most buying online in 2018.