Germany

More and more companies, especially those in the field of fashion, have turned to curated shopping. And it seems consumers respond well to these kinds of retail services. Even if the number of users is small, those who already use the service are very pleased and would like to use it again.

eBay has started a pilot project in Germany, which should give a boost to local commerce. The pilot project called "Monchengladbach on eBay" is intended to allow retailers to offer their goods alongside the existing distribution channels on eBay.

Lots of companies rely on digital marketing, so it's important to understand how customers behave online. A new study shows that although direct traffic is the most popular source of visitors in general, visitors of fashion websites come more often through search engines. This is especially noticeable in the United Kingdom and France.

The German fashion retailer Apparently Different has opened a pop-up store in Berlin yesterday. In the store, customers can order products from a touch screen while they are in the locker room. Via a tablet, employees get notified of the customers' requests so they can search the desired items and deliver them through a drawer system directly into the locker room.

Consumers from the United Kingdom and France are most familiar with purchasing flowers online. In the UK, 37 percent of consumers said they had bought a bouquet online at least once in the past year. In France, this share is 32 percent. In these two countries, as well as Germany and the Netherlands, Fleurop/Interflora is the absolute market leader. The question is for how long, as new initiatives arise.

Germany, Austria and Switzerland are a lot alike when it comes to ecommerce. There are several big online stores that are very popular across these German-speaking countries. Let's have a look at the biggest online stores in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

German fashion retailer Zalando will start the construction of its fourth fulfillment center in Germany in October. The self-operating logistics center will be 130,000 square meters big and allows the ecommerce company to serve customers in Southern Germany, Switzerland and France even faster.

Zalando thought it was doing something good by changing its payment algorithm, but it actually backfired. The German ecommerce giant has been the victim of online fraud, as people ordered and received goods from Zalando, but never paid for them. According to the fashion retailer, the sum is about 18.5 million euros.

eBay is said to launch a paid shipping membership service in Germany. The program, called eBay Plus, promises free delivery within two days on millions of items, as well as free returns within 30 days of a purchase. eBay Plus will launch in late September in Germany, but will be available to all buyers on eBay Germany by October.

German online fashion and lifestyle retailer Lesara has raised 15 million euros in a Series B round. The leading investor is Northzone. Vorwerk Ventures is on board as co-investor, while existing investor Mangrove Capital also participated in this round. With the fresh funding, Lesara wants to further grow internationally and to expand its business in existing markets.

Dynamic pricing isn't something completely new. Lots of ecommerce website change the price of an item, based on variables such as the weather, website traffic, actual demand et cetera. But what if a consumer that visits an online store via Google Shopping needs to pay less than a visitor who shops at the website directly? It happens at German online lens retailers Lensbest and Mister Spex.

DPD, GLS and Hermes are about to launch a parcel locker company, but have changed the name of their joint venture company. Previously called Unibox, the carrier-neutral parcel boxes now will launch under the brand name ParcelLock. At first UPS was also involved in the development of the parcel lockers, but the courier company is now no longer mentioned.

Blendle, the Dutch startup that has been revolutionizing reading news online, has finally announced the official launch date for the first international version of its digital news kiosk. Blendle Germany will launch on September 14. Most major Germany newspapers and magazines have joined the platform.

Europe is a very complex entity. Similarly, in the area of ecommerce. There are many differences between the nationalities that are spread across the continent. And that's something Zalando, Europe's biggest online fashion retailer, loves to utilize. Now they've shared what they think are the differences between online shoppers in Europe.

Panattoni Europe, a logistics real estate developer as well as investor, will develop the largest logistics facility in Germany. It has been awarded this contract by Jago AG, one of the largest ecommerce companies in Germany. The entire project is due to be completed in August 2017.