SaaS ecommerce platform Kooomo and French online payment solution HiPay have partnered, giving Kooomo's ecommerce merchants access to the HiPay payment solution directly from the platform. HiPay offers over 220 local and international payments methods.

Online fashion store Zoot.cz has won the APEK E-commerce Award for the most innovative and original online store in the Czech Republic in the past year. The awards was handed out to the online retailer during the E-Business Forum, a conference organized by Czech ecommerce association APEK.

After launching its own music streaming service, Aldi will now also launch an e-book service in Germany. The digital platform will offer one million e-books as well as a new Aldi Medion tablet that's been optimized for reading e-books.

One in four Polish online consumers is planning to increase their expenditures on online shopping. They are also spending more on clothing and accessories and less on mobile devices than they did a year ago. Also, men spend more on electronics, while women spend more on books, CDs and films.

Showroomprivé, an French private fashion sales provider, has acquired Saldi Privati, a subsidiary of the Italian Banzai group. With the acquisition, Showroomprivé becomes the second actor in online private sales in Italy.

Ecommerce now accounts for 4.4 percent of all FMCG sales, research shows. Grocery ecommerce is set to grow to 9 percent of the market and be worth 135 billion euros by 2025. In Europe, the UK and France are the countries with the highest online value share of the FMCG market, but the continent is lagging behind Asia.

Mastercard is rolling out a new technology in Europe which makes it possible for consumers to pay with a selfie. The service, officially called Identity Check Mobile, let users verify their identity by taking a photo of themselves so a payment can be completed.

The German E-Commerce and Distance Selling Trade Association (bevh) and German Federal Association of eCommerce (BVOH) have announced a strategic partnership, in order to represent the interests in online trading even more effective.

What does Europe has to offer oppose the digital superpowers Amazon, Google, Facebook and Apple? Well, virtually nothing. But that can change, says 'ecommerce professor' Gerrit Heinemann. His plan is called 'VEZOS', a play on words with Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.

The German hypermarket Kaufland, part of the Schwarz Gruppe which also owns Lidl and Handelshof, has opened an online shop in Germany. But for now, the online delivery service is only available in Berlin. The website will offer the same prices as in-store.

The Netherlands and Belgium have a combined population of 28 million people, a gross domestic product of 1.08 trillion euros and English is spoken widely. The two countries offer an attractive market to international retailers looking to expand into new territories. A new guidebook helps companies who want to sell online in the Netherlands and Belgium.

More than three-quarters of online shoppers in Europe are willing to exceed the minimum order thresholds if this means they will get free delivery or collection. But at the same time, 63 percent would likely switch to another retailer if they have a poor experience with delivery or click & collect.

September was a very busy month when it comes to ecommerce events in September. Luckily there are still some nice and interesting events, conferences and exhibitions left for October. We made a handy overview for you, so you know when and where an ecommerce event in Europe takes place.

Deutsche Post DHL has reached an agreement to buy UK Mail for approximately 242.7 million pounds, or 281.6 million euros. With the acquisition, DHL will further strengthen its position in the European postal market, while putting more pressure on competitor Royal Mail in the United Kingdom.

Spring, a Dutch company that provides delivery solutions, has announced it now offers ecommerce businesses RFID tracking on goods that are sent internationally. This new solution, called Tag & Trace, gives online retailers who send low value goods around the world the possibility to track at minimal cost.