Online store

Inditex will be focusing even more on ecommerce during the next few years. All of its brands, which include Zara, Pull&Bear and Stradivarius, will be available to buy online anywhere in the world by 2020. That's what chairman and CEO Pablo Isla announced earlier this week.

Ecommerce accounted for a third of the total value of technical consumer goods sold globally to consumers, but in Europe the online share is much lower. In 18 countries across Europe, the average online share is currently at 25 percent.

The Netherlands has the most online stores per capita. In this country, there are about 80,000 online stores with a population of 17 million. That means there are 214 people per online store, a density that's nowhere to be found anywhere else in the world. In the Netherlands, online shops have to fight hard for every visitor.

Consumers in Germany are increasingly buying furniture online. The share of online shopping has now reached around 14 percent. And it's mostly single households and consumers under the age of 30 that tend to buy their furniture online instead of in physical stores.

Ecommerce is beating the high street in the United Kingdom, as 51 percent of consumers say they prefer to shop online instead of at physical stores. Over half of consumers also said they are shopping more online this year, compared to 2017.

Amazon is seen as a threat by almost half of Nordic online retailers. On the other hand, over a quarter of ecommerce players see Amazon entering the Nordic market as an opportunity. With Amazon's arrival, local retailers can use the established marketplace to sell their products to more consumers.

Eko, a Swedish chain of hypermarkets owned by Bergendahls, will not only expand its business by opening new physical stores, it also entered a new market online. The company has launched its first ecommerce platform, called E by Night, which sells sex toys and related products online.

Spanish fashion giant Inditex says online sales now account for 10 percent of its global total. In 47 markets around the world, Inditex has one or several ecommerce platforms available and these online sales increased by 41 percent compared to last year.

Fast-growing fashion brand Chiquelle is ready for the new fashion season and will introduce an augmented reality app to its customers in Europe. Together with tech company Figuratic, Chiquelle will launch a virtual shopping experience based on AR and 3D technologies.

Google entered a deal with Carrefour to sell groceries online in France. Next year, shoppers in this European country will be able to buy Carrefour's products through Google's platforms such as Google Home, Google Assistant and Google Shopping.

There are some strong rumors that Lidl is looking to move into ecommerce, after the discounter created a holding company called Lidl Digital Logistics in the United Kingdom. According to the Daily Mail, this shows that Lidl is entering the grocery delivery market.

Redcoon has ceased operations in Germany. Anyone who visits the electronic retailer's website, gets the suggestion to visit the website of MediaMarkt. Products that are ordered through redcoon.de, will still be delivered to the customer, and MediaMarktSaturn promises to continue to meet all service requirements.

Online fashion retailer Boohoo has almost doubled its sales last year. The company's revenue increased by 97 percent, climbing from 337 million euros to 664 million euros. Boohoo's profit before tax increased by 40 percent during the same period.

Amazon Prime users in France are now able to place 1-click orders on tens of millions of products that ship with Prime. The US ecommerce company has launched virtual Dash buttons in France, two years after the physical Dash buttons were announced.

When it comes to online shopping, consumers from Latvia and Lithuania emphasize the superior pricing policies compared to prices in physical stores. The number one issue for online shoppers in both Eastern European countries seems to be a long delivery time.