Finland

Smartmile is expanding its network of open and shared parcel automates. The company will install a total of 40 new lockers in Finland and the Netherlands.

Swappie, which sells refurbished iPhones online, is expanding across Europe. Today, the Finnish startup launched its online store in Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Portugal.

The first robotic parcel machines with integrated cold storage are launched in Finland. The service aims at customers wanting to pick up their online groceries. Currently, the machines are only active in two locations near Helsinki.

Goodiebox, a beauty subscription box from Denmark, has acquired Bette Box, a Finish startup that also sells beauty on subscription. For Goodiebox, the acquisition means its first out-of-company investment.

Over one million parcels have been delivered through the nationwide Pakettipiste network of Lehtipiste Oy, a Finnish distribution and marketing company for newspapers and magazines. The parcel locker network currently has around 300 active locations across Finland.

Omoda, a Dutch omnichannel shoe retailer, is expanding in Europe. After it opened online stores in countries nearby, the company is now ready to expand to Scandinavia. This year, an online store in Denmark will open and next year, Sweden, Norway and Finland are next.

Tomorrow, Posti will open a new premises in Helsinki, which is focused on ecommerce for its consumer customers and online retailers. The initiative, called Box, is equipped with fitting rooms, a big parcel locker and a digital kiosk.

Zalando is launching a pilot with reusable packaging. The test will run for four weeks and is aimed at customers in Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. During the pilot, 10,000 customers will receive their orders in reusable shipping bags, so the German fashion company can reduce the packaging waste.

On average, parcels that are transported from Sweden to Finland take 5.6 days to reach their destination. Once the border is crossed, the average delivery time is 1.8 days.

Starting today, AliExpress customers in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Finland can choose when and how they want to pay for their goods. This is the result of a partnership between Klarna and AliExpress' payment service provider Adyen.

Zalando is slowly ending its free delivery service in Europe. It started last November in Italy and now more and more markets are starting to ask for a delivery fee. Latest markets to be hit by this decision are Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland.

The ecommerce industry in the Nordic countries was worth 230.2 billion Swedish kronor, or 21.87 billion euros, in 2018. The biggest share of this online turnover comes from Sweden, which also has the highest proportion of people shopping online.

Klarna has launched its own financing program for SME retailers in Europe. The new initiative is called Boost and is aimed to further support retailers in accelerating their growth. The company promises the application process will be simple and straightforward.

Payments companies Klarna and Mollie will work together more intensively in Europe. As of today, the payment solutions from Klarna will be available as standard for the more than 55,000 customers Mollie has in Europe.

Ecommerce in the Nordic region has increased by 11 percent during the first six months of 2018, compared with the same period last year. Nordic consumers made online purchases worth 10 billion euros. The largest ecommerce country in the region is Sweden, with 4.12 billion euros.