Benelux

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.

Dutch startup VonWood, a trade platform for wood, has raised 2.7 million euros. The company aims to connect wood buyers and lumbers more directly online, while offering more product transparency. With the funds, VonWood wants to accelerate growth.

The Dutch government wants online liquor stores to stop offering ‘buy now, pay later’ as a payment method. If they do not find alternative payment methods, the government will come up with legal measures. The payment method lowers the threshold to buy alcohol.

Dutch ecommerce giant Bol.com is cutting approximately 10 percent of its staff. This comes down to 300 jobs. The company needs to save a total of 225 million euros over the next three years. The growth of the online store has come to a halt.

German supermarket Lidl has opened its European distribution center in Roosendaal, in the Netherlands. Eventually, all of Lidl’s online orders in Europe will be fulfilled through this center. In order to do this, it will gradually expand its work force and inventory.

As lockdowns were lifted earlier this year, the amount of online sales has dropped in the Netherlands. The total decline in online revenue is expected to reach 3 percent in 2022. However, online turnover growth will reach between 5 and 10 percent next year as a result of inflation.

ChannelEngine, a Dutch marketplace integration platform, has partnered with TikTok Shop. TikTok’s social commerce feature has faced problems in Europe. Partnering with multiple ecommerce companies, including ChannelEngine, is hoped to help.

Belgian ecommerce trade association BeCommerce has launched a new trustmark for ads by influencers. The trustmark aims to prevent fraudulent sales on social media. Belgian consumers can now easily check whether an influencer complies with European legislation.

The Dutch branch of Instabox has been declared bankrupt. Instabox, known for its red parcel lockers, only recently declared to join forces with parcel deliverer Budbee under the name Instabee.

After red numbers in the first and second quarter, Dutch marketplace Bol.com made 1,2 billion euros in revenue in Q3. That is an increase of 5,6 percent. This is mostly thanks to its 51.000 third-party sellers, who account for nearly 60 percent of sales.

Ecommerce lending startup Lemonero is launching its platform in the Netherlands. It is the second expansion after a launch in Central and Eastern Europe last year. It already announced plans to expand into the DACH region, next year.

Dutch logistics company PostNL is opening up its network of parcel lockers to other carriers in 2023. Additionally, the company will expand its network of 400 parcel lockers to 1,500 lockers by 2024 across the country. The move will make it easier for consumers to receive and send parcels.

In the seventeenth edition of the BeCommerce Awards, Bijenkorf.be was awarded with The Becommerce Award. It can now call itself the best Belgian online store for a year. It competed with four other nominees for this title.

During the first quarter of this year, 74 percent of Dutch consumers bought services or goods online. This is a decrease of 3 percent when compared to the same period a year earlier. Consumers also bought less physical than digital products online.