Norway

Grocery chain Coop and postal company Posten Norge have launched grocery home deliveries in Norway. The two companies have partnered to deliver groceries to those who can't go to stores during the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.

Posten Norge has started a pilot project in Oslo with 100 parcel lockers across the city. The test is meant to provide insight for the further rollout of a new parcel locker network in Norway.

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.

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.

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.

Online fashion retailer Chiquelle will soon send items customs free to its customers in Norway. The Swedish company was already active in its neighboring country, but until now Norwegian customers needed to pay a customs processing fee.

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.

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.

PostNord and Zalando have signed a three year logistics contract, thereby extending the partnership that started when Zalando entered the Nordic market eight years ago. Until mid-2021, PostNord will be the sole supplier of logistics solutions to Zalando in all of PostNord's four markets in the Nordic region.

Amazon is seen as a threat by almost half of Nordic online retailers. On the other hand, over a quarter of ecommerce players see Amazon entering the Nordic market as an opportunity. With Amazon's arrival, local retailers can use the established marketplace to sell their products to more consumers.

The ecommerce industry in the Nordics (Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland) was worth 209,6 billion Swedish kronor, which corresponds to over 20.6 billion euros, last year. Almost forty percent of the total Nordic ecommerce revenue was generated in Sweden.

80 percent of leading retailers in the Nordics have an ecommerce app and a mobile-optimized ecommerce website. Almost one in five retailers have focused on optimizing their website for mobile visitors, rather than focusing on an app. Only 1 percent has neither.

Fashion retailer Bonprix has opened an online store in Norway, which marks the 30^th market where this German fashion brand has a presence. Within the Otto Group, Bonprix is ​​now the most international brand and is also one of the Group's largest companies.

The Nordic menswear and golf brand Oscar Jacobson is investing more in omnichannel retail as it is expanding its business in Europe. The company currently sells its menswear fashion items online in the United Kingdom and Sweden, but it will soon sell both online and through stores in Norway.