Logistics

German online fashion shop Mybudapester.com offers its customers from outside the European Union free delivery and returns. These customers also won't be charged extra for taxes, customs and freight surcharges on these international orders.

Zalando is testing same-evening delivery in Switzerland. The new service enables selected customers to receive their orders the same evening. Zalando is running the test with Swiss Post and Notime.

The majority of UK retailers are not aware of the impact and value that delivery options have. Three out of four consumers leave their shopping card because they don't like the delivery options, while 47 percent of retailer don't even know their cart abandonment rate or why consumers leave their online store.

Deutsche Post DHL Group and Lidl have partnered up to make shopping more convenient. As a result of the partnership, about 500 DHL Packstations will be built at Lidl stores in Germany later this year.

Zalando has announced it will build its first fulfilment center in the Netherlands. With the 140,000 square meters nearby Rotterdam, the fashion company wants to further boost its growth in Western Europe.

Ziticity, a startup from Lithuania, wants to deliver packages in Europe from pick-up points to customers within one hour. The logistics company just raised a €315,000 seed round led by Estonia-based early stage fund Superangel, with participation from Practica Capital, Startup Wise Guys, and angel investor Mikko Silventola.

Zalando and PostNord have partnered up to test a pick-up and drop-off point service that's operated by private persons. The pilot will run in Aarhus and Copenhagen in Denmark and is managed by Dutch delivery service Homerr.

French supermarket chain Carrefour is busy extending its home delivery service across the whole of France. By 2020, all cities with a population of at least 10,000 people will be able to make use of the service. Later this year, Carrefour also lets customers pick up non-food items they ordered online at a hypermarket within two hours.

Consumers in Germany receive more packages per year than every other citizen in Europe. Per capita in Germany there are 24 shipments per year. That's twice as many as in the Netherlands for example.

Supermarket chain Lidl has extended its online grocery shopping and home delivery service in Ireland. The service, operated by grocery delivery startup Buymie, was already active in Dublin and now extends into the commuter counties surrounding the capital.

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.

Sorted, a delivery software startup from the United Kingdom, has raised 17 million euros in a funding round that was led by Praetura Ventures and NVM Private Equity. This follows after a year of 400 percent revenue growth.

In France, ecommerce accounted for a 7.1 percent share of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sold last year. That's the highest share in Europe, ahead of a 6.3 percent share in the United Kingdom and a 1.4 percent share in Germany.

Zalando wants to make the shipping of its packages even more sustainable. The online fashion platform is planning a pilot for reusable packaging. The customer can return the transport carrier, ie the carton box or the plastic bag, to Zalando so the German ecommerce company can use it again.

Online retailers who offer free delivery don't seem to experience having more items returned to them. Although many consumers often don't pay for delivery, when they do return purchases, most of the time it's not due to free delivery.