Belgian ecommerce associations BeCommerce and SafeShops.be have announced a merger today. The new organization focuses on boosting Belgian ecommerce. Greet Dekocker, who assumes day-to-day management of the new association, informed Ecommerce News by phone that the new name and branding are still being developed.

The Benelux-based Maxeda DIY Group, a group of DIY retailers, is launching its own marketplace. It is the first DIY marketplace within the Benelux. At the launch, the marketplace already offers 10,000 new products on top of the current product assortment.

Online revenue in the Netherlands has decreased 7.6 percent in 2022 when compared to a year earlier. Pure online stores generated revenues of 5.8 percent lower. Multichannel sellers saw their turnover decrease by 9.6 percent.

Costumer behavior in Germany is shifting. Google Shopping and price comparison sites are 10 percent less popular compared to 2019. When it comes to shoppers' research before making a purchase, social media and video websites like YouTube have grown more popular among German shoppers.

Nearly 40 percent of online shops in Europe uses so-called ‘dark patterns’. These are ways of encouraging customers into making a purchase under false pretenses, such as hiding costs and false countdowns.

Online sales of physical goods in Germany made 9 percent less revenue last year. Digital services such as travel and events, on the other hand, increased by nearly 40 percent. In total, German ecommerce generated just over 100 billion euros of revenue in 2022.

Online marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay and Vinted will now have to report sales made on their platforms by end users to the tax office. This is part of a new EU law. Private sellers will be reported when they make over 2,000 euros or have over 30 transactions per year.

Most European countries have an average of daily time spent using social media below the worldwide average of 2:31 hours. Romanians use it a bit more often, 2:32 hours a day. Additionally, almost 26 percent of social media users worldwide use it to find products to purchase.

Leading ecommerce platform Shopify has increased its prices for new customers in the United States. The change is expected to be implemented in Europe soon, as well. Current customers will notice the price change in three months.

In the three weeks up to Black Friday, Zalando’s product prices increased by 8 percent. At the start of Black Friday week, prices dropped again by 18 percent. At the end of the week, prices had dropped 23 percent.

Google will provide more transparency for consumers buying products through the company’s ecommerce platforms, such as the Google Store. The tech giant is doing so to comply with rules set by the European Union. However, the company still breaches EU laws on geo-blocking.

Online payment provider Paypal is under investigation by the Federal Cartel Office (FCO) in Germany. The company has allegedly hindered market and price competition in its terms and conditions, the German watchdog says.

Gross sales in Spanish ecommerce are expected to increase 20 percent by the end of this year. The country is expected to generate 65.3 billion euros in sales, of which 17 percent will be generated by online sales.

Dutch product information management platform Gepard has launched a new feature called Digital Shelf Analytics. This feature helps brands effectively track content coverage by supervising content providers, monitoring their enriched product listings on retailers’ websites, and fully controlling content completeness and accuracy. It is one of the biggest updates in 2022 which has already brought real results to their clients.

Swiss online department store Galaxus has launched in Italy. The company wants to grow a loyal customer base. It is the company’s newest expansion after previous launches in Germany, Austria and France.