Cross-border

SmartRoutes, an Irish provider of delivery route planning software, has plans to expand its operations across Europe and the United Kingdom. It also plans to double its team for the second year in a row to meet the demand for its service.

Dutch department store De Bijenkorf is expanding in Europe again. After launching an ecommerce website in France last year, it's now opening an online store in Austria. This marks the fourth foreign market for the Dutch omnichannel retailer.

Last year, Dutch consumers spent nearly 2.6 billion euros on purchases from foreign online shops within the European Union. This amounts to an increase of almost 32 percent compared to the situation a year earlier.

Seven Senders, a German delivery platform for parcel shipping, has concluded a Series C financing round of 40 million dollars (33 million euros). The company wants to use the money to further support Chinese and US online retailers with their business activities in Europe.

Online retailer Wildberries from Russia has announced the launch of its website in the US. This marks the fourteenth country where the ecommerce company is present.

The online cross-border market in Europe was worth 146 billion euros in 2020. This is an increase of 35 percent compared to the situation one year before. The cross-border share represents 25.5 percent of total online sales in Europe.

Italy is a developing ecommerce market in Europe. But although it's lagging behind on some other European markets, the online retail industry of Italy has lots to offer. Let's take a look at the opportunities for European ecommerce companies in Italy.

Budbee, a last-mile delivery startup from Sweden, will soon become available in Belgium. The logistics tech company has announced it will start in Flanders and Brussels. Later on, it will also expand to Wallonia.

Gorillas, a delivery startup from Germany, has launched its services in London. The company offers a full range of groceries from its own distribution hubs within 10 minutes. The UK is the third market in Europe where Gorillas is active.

Centra, a direct-to-consumer and wholesale platform for global brands, has been growing significantly during the pandemic last year. The Swedish company is now aiming for an aggressive, international expansion this year. It has made several new recruitments to achieve this goal.

Dutch wholesale marketplace Orderchamp has announced its expansion to Germany. It's the fifth market where the B2B platform officially has a presence. It's also active in the Benelux and France. After a soft-launch, Orderchamp will now open an office in Germany to further penetrate this market.

Wildberries has launched dedicated ecommerce websites in France, Italy, and Spain. The entry into these markets follows after Wildberries' launch in Germany last month. The major Russian online retailer is now available in several countries across Europe.

Zalando has expanded its pre-owned online store Zircle to Scandinavia. Customers in Sweden and Denmark can now also buy pre-owned fashion via this online platform. And there's a very logical reason for this specific expansion to Scandinavia.

Dutch payment fintech unicorn Mollie has entered the United Kingdom. Here it will support British merchants who are looking to grow into Europe. The payment service provider has enhanced its services available to UK companies who can incorporate several EU payment methods into their online stores.

Picnic has shown strong growth in 2020 and is busy with the expansion to France. Sources say that last year, the Dutch online supermarket had managed to double its revenue, which is now predicted to be worth almost half a billion euros.