Hungary

Ecommerce in Hungary has continued to grow in 2015. It surpassed the milestone of 300 billion Hungarian forints (about €963 million) for the first time, ultimately reaching 319 billion Hungarian forints, or 1.02 billion euros, at the end of last year. Ecommerce now accounts for 4.1 percent of the overall retail trade.

Lesara, a Berlin-based online fashion and lifestyle retailer, has announced it will now also supply customers in the United Kingdom, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Bulgaria, The Republic of Ireland, Romania, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, Poland, Czech Republic, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

In Europe, more and more consumers like to pay using their smartphone or tablet. In share of mobile device owners who already have experience with mobile payments, Turkey is the absolute leader in Europe. This is apparent from the latest report by yStats.com, called "Europe Online Payment Methods: First Half 2015".

SzEK.org, the national ecommerce association in Hungary, has joined Ecommerce Europe. The umbrella organization says to be delighted to welcome its new member. According to François Momboisse, president of the board of directors, Eastern Europe is an important emerging ecommerce market and with this membership they will be able to put forward the interests of the ecommerce sector even better.

H&M will sell online in Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Switzerland. The Swedish fashion retailer is making a big ecommerce push as it already invested heavily in its online retail site and took several steps to connect its web and mobile assets with its brick-and-mortar stores.

Just as in previous years, the online ecommerce industry in Hungary increased significantly in 2014. Predictions are that the total volume in this Eastern European country should have reached 266 billion Hungarian forints (€833.19 million) by the end of last year. According to eNET this signals the ushering in of a period of steeper growth.

Foodpanda seems to be very hungry! After acquiring businesses in India and Mexico recently, it now takes over three food delivery startups in Central Eastern Europe. The online food ordering marketplace has acquired Donesi.com, Pauza.hr and Netpincer.hr. It's targeting market leadership across Central Eastern Europe.

H&M will launch online stores in eight different countries in Europe during 2015. The new online markets will be Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Slovakia. H&M’s online stores are already available in eleven European countries.

With an average growth rate of 19% in 2012 the ecommerce industry in Central Europe was growing almost as hard as the European average, which is 19.9%. The region's ecommerce market was worth 75.9 billion euros in 2012, but it's expected to have grown to 93.3 billion euros last year, which comes down to an increase of 23% in 2013.