Cross-border

Dutch omnichannel retailer Coolblue has set the first steps to expand to Germany. In the Düsseldorf area, Coolblue starts with its own delivery network, installation service, bike couriers and physical stores. Further expansion across Germany is the next step.

Turkey wants to increase its export market share in the Middle East and North Africa. It's planning new initiatives in the ecommerce sector. Therefore, it will form a virtual committee to promote and help ecommerce companies online.

Czech online optician Lentiamo is expanding in Europe again. The ecommerce company has now launched its online store in Ireland. From now on, Irish shoppers can order contacts, spectacles and sunglasses in the online Lentiamo shop.

Food Union, a dairy production and distribution company from Latvia, has launched an ecommerce distribution service in four markets across Europe. The Riga-based company now delivers ice cream, dairy products, pastry and frozen food to customers in Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Denmark.

Fashion retailer Forever 21 has re-entered the ecommerce scene in Europe. The American company has launched new localized online stores for the most popular markets in Europe.

JouwWeb, a Dutch service to build websites and online shops, has launched its international brand. It's called Webador and is aimed at the English and German speaking part of Europe. Ecommerce News spoke with founder Wouter Twisk about the expansion plans.

Swappie, which sells refurbished iPhones online, is expanding across Europe. Today, the Finnish startup launched its online store in Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Portugal.

Rohlík, an online supermarket from the Czech Republic, has announced plans to launch in Germany. The expansion was originally planned for 2025. But due to the current high demand for online grocery shopping, the start is brought forward. Rohlík is expected to launch in Munich by the end of this year.

The total online cross-border market (excluding travel) in Europe represented a turnover of 108.75 billion euros in 2019. This is an increase of 14.4 percent compared to the situation one year before. The cross-border share represents 23.55 percent of total online sales in Europe, which is similar to the situation last year.

Neleman, the online store of Dutch winemaker and merchant Derrick Neleman, is expanding further across Europe. The omnichannel company will soon open online shops in Belgium, Germany and Spain.

Casper, a mattress retailer from the US, is shutting down its operations in Europe. As a result, 78 people are laid off, which corresponds to a fifth of its corporate workforce worldwide.

CCC Group, a major footwear retail company from Poland, has launched its online shop CCC.eu in Hungary and Austria. In Hungary, the group already operates two ecommerce platforms, while in Austria, this will be the group's first ecommerce platform.

Girav, a Dutch startup specialized in extra long T-shirts for men, is going abroad. The ecommerce company has opened an online store in Germany.

Consumers in Austria like to shop online, but apparently they don't like to do this at local online stores. Only 8 percent of all online sales generated in Austria go to a purely Austrian ecommerce company.

Charlie Temple, an optical online retailer from the Netherlands, has expanded to Belgium and Austria. For the fast-growing ecommerce scale-up in prescription glasses these are the second and third new market, after it also expanded to Germany last year.