Shoppers from the United Kingdom are planning to spend 25 billion pounds, or 28.3 billion euros, using their smartphones this year. That's an increase of about 66 percent compared to the situation in 2018.

E-Fresh, a fast-growing online grocery retailer from Greece, has had a successful year. The digital supermarket yesterday announced that its sales have increased by 93 percent last year. The company also secured a 88 percent repeat customer rate, while the number of customers grew 94 percent.

Dutch online retailer Bol.com is expanding its network of pick-up points in Belgium. The Ahold Delhaize-owned company will open locations in the supermarkets of Delhaize in Flanders. Consumers in Belgium already had the option to pick up their Bol.com orders at the supermarkets of Albert Heijn.

Customers in Germany are insufficiently informed about the price of a product when they buy something using an Amazon Dash button. And this is in violation of the law, the Higher Regional Court of Munich revealed.

Online retailer Otto says it's the first ecommerce company in Germany that enables instant payments for its customers. Thanks to a cooperation with Hanseatic Bank, Otto claims it's able to offer a better service, like faster delivery, now customers can transfer money instantly.

Correos, the national postal service of Spain, has distributed more than 106 million packages in 2018. This represents an increase of 61 percent compared to the total amount of packages it managed during the year before.

Micolet, the second-hand fashion marketplace from Spain, is expanding in Europe again. The company is busy making the sales process available to customers in Germany. Right now, only customers in Spain can sell their fashion items through Micolet.

Dutch food delivery group Takeaway.com has acquired the businesses of Delivery Hero in Germany. The acquisition comprises the Lieferheld, Pizza.de and Foodora brands in Germany and is in return for cash and a equity stake in Takeaway.com.

Things don't look so swell for ecommerce in the United Kingdom. The online retail industry has suffered the worst November growth since 2011. Last month, sales increased with just 8.1 percent year-on-year.

The European Commission has given fashion retailer Guess a fine worth almost 40 million euros (39,821,000 to be precise). The US company got the fine for restricting retailers from online advertising and selling cross-border to consumers in other EU countries. This is called geo-blocking and in breach of European competition rules.

DHL has plans to concentrate more on ecommerce in Turkey. The German logistics player considers Turkey as an important regional hub which could fuel growth in the Middle Eastern and European markets. DHL is setting up an operations center at Istanbul Airport as first step of this plan.

Online fashion retailer Asos reported a 14% rise in revenue for six months to February 28 of this year. Most of the growth is thanks to UK retail sales, which grew from 250 million euros in 2014 to 318 million euros now, which is an increase of 27%. International retail sales grew only by 5%, but this part is still the main driver of the group's revenues of 756 million euros.

British online fashion retailer ASOS saw its total retail sales increase by 36 percent during the four months ended 31 December last year. Especially in the United States and Europe the online-only retailer saw its sales grow strongly. In Europe, sales increased by 49 percent during that period.

Bpost and Zalando have experimented with in-home delivery and in-home pickup in Belgium. The two companies wanted to know whether consumers are ready to let parcel couriers in their homes while they are away. The test was successful, but there are still many hurdles to overcome.

Google Pay has continued its global expansion and is now also available in France. Customers from six different banks in France can start using Google's mobile payment service. Google Pay can also be used at several online services and retailers in France.