Europe

Amazon is not sitting on its hands in Europe. After creating over 10,000 new permanent jobs last year, the American retailer wants to create several thousand more new jobs in Europe this year. With the extra manpower it wants to expand its European fulfilment network, increase its research and development here and build new infrastructure.

About one in seven online consumers in Europe uses the click and collect option whenever it's available, with the French online buyers to be the most likely to use this delivery method. According to new research, European retailers need click and collect to thrive as it offers customers convenience.

MetaPack and B2C Europe will be working together. The two European companies signed a deal, and as a result retail customers and partners from MetaPack's SaaS platform get access to the domestic and international distribution and returns solutions from B2C Europe.

Nearly two thirds of internet users in the European Union made online purchases in 2015. The share of online shoppers in internet users is growing, with the highest proportions (both 68%) being found in the group of 16 to 24 year olds and that of 25 to 54 year olds.

Dutch payment company Adyen announced it achieved 100% transaction volume growth and more than 100% revenue growth in 2015. The company processed 50 billion dollars in transaction volume last year and achieve revenue of 350 million dollars, which corresponds to a growth of more than 100 percent over 2014.

The European Commission has completed an econometric study on parcel list prices. It found out that on average, cross-border prices for parcels are 471 percent higher than their domestic counterpart. For letters, cross-border prices are 324 percent higher than their domestic counterpart. And it's not primarily due to higher unit labor costs in the destination country.

Several Dutch organizations have launched EcommerceWiki, an English-written platform where experts from all over the world can collect and share all knowledge about ecommerce topics such as merchandising, performance advertising, selecting an ecommerce platform and managing social media.

The holiday season is over and some consumers aren't happy with their gifts and return them. But as more and more Christmas shopping happened online, products need to be returned to online retailers. Royal Mail called last Monday "Mail-Back Monday", while UPS says today it's "National Returns Day". A great revenue opportunity for shopping companies, but a real burden for online retailers.

The takeaway food delivery market in Europe has known some pretty turbulent years. Now the dust has settled, there are some major players left. Just Eat from the United Kingdom, Delivery Hero from Germany and Takeaway.com from the Netherlands are now Europe's biggest players. But which one will dominate Germany, the one market that remains up for grabs?

About one in twenty Christmas gifts that are bought online in Europe this year don't come from a local retailer but are shopped abroad. In total, Christmas shoppers in Europe will spend more than 2.8 billion euros at foreign online stores.

Delivery startup Postmates will roll out its activities in Europe next year. The urban logistics & on-demand delivery platform will launch in London sometime in the second quarter of next year, Postmates CEO Bastian Lehmann said.

The European Commission today presents a proposal which equalizes the guarantee period for consumers who shop online in all member states. If this proposal is accepted, it will be a major change for consumers and retailers in Europe and could really boost cross-border ecommerce.

Dutch lingerie brand Hunkemöller is the winner of the Webshop Award Europe as well as of the Cross Channel Award Europe. It won these two awards during the election of the retailer of the year in Europe. The Retailer of the Year Awards were handed out in nine European countries and of all the winners a European winner was announced in three different categories.

Marketplace solutions provider Mirakl, has launched its business-to-business solution. The French company developed Mirakl Marketplace B2B to help distributors and manufacturers create their own online marketplaces.

Payment system WebMoney is now licensed to issue electronic money within the European Union. The company was granted a Financial Conduct Authority License and as a result, its Euro purses are now considered e-money and are in full compliance with EU legislation.