Sweden

Swedish online retailer Adlibris no longer just sells books via its website, as it launched an extended range of completely new categories, both on its Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish websites. The expansion was announced earlier this year, but as of today consumers now also can shop at Adlibris for DIY & crafts items, kids & toys products and office supplies.

The online trading of goods and services in Sweden is growing at a tremendous rate. During the first quarter of this year, ecommerce in Sweden grew by 19 percent when you compare it with the same period last year. The forecast is that ecommerce in Sweden will reach a turnover of 50 billion Swedish kronor, or 5.42 billion euros, by the end of this year.

The Nordic Delivery Conference in Copenhagen was the setting for a debate between four big European couriers. Bring, DPD UK, PostNord and DHL discussed how delivery can be used as a competitive advantage. Here's what they said.

Consumers in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark shopped online for a total of 3.89 billion euros during the first three months of this year. Ecommerce increased by 7 percent compared with last year, although the Norwegian ecommerce showed some negative development. Nordic consumers are increasingly valuing the power of the recipient and want to choose the delivery method of the items they bought online.

One of the hardest parts of making an online business successful is getting the marketing right. The most well-known and easy-to-reach channel is probably Google Adwords. However, due to its character the competition is high and thus the channel might be expensive as well. What online stores in Sweden spend a lot on Google Adwords?

With Google now punishing websites that aren't mobile friendly, online retailers are in a hurry to have a mobile optimized website. But it's not solely the mobile website online retailers should worry about, it's the mobile app that normally leads to more conversion. But in Sweden, many retailers don't have an app. And that could be a problem.

Axfood AB, one of the largest food retailers in Scandinavia, is starting an ecommerce pilot project with their subsidiary Hemköp. Starting today, hundred selected customers will be able to order their groceries online and then pick them up at the store or have them delivered directly to them at home.

The Swedish crowdfunding platform FundedByMe is now accepting bitcoin payments. This announcement was done at the same time news came out bitcoin trading platform Safello is looking for funding... via FundedByMe. Safello will also process all bitcoin payments on this crowdfunding platform.

Fyndiq, the popular bargain marketplace from Sweden, will expand to Germany this year. The online company is currently looking for German-speaking people to fill the dozens of job vacancies they have. It's no secret Fyndiq wants to spread its wings. After a funding round last year the company said it was looking to take its business to new markets, starting in Germany, the UK and Poland.

Cross-border ecommerce is growing steadily in the Nordic countries. Especially online stores in Sweden are popular among other Scandinavians. Norwegian consumers shop the most at foreign online stores. Ten percent of all Norwegians shop at Swedish ecommerce sites at some point every quarter.

Online retailers and consumers in the Nordics now can use another service for invoice payments. After the huge success of Klarna, it's time for Avarda, a joint venture from Intrum Justitia and TF Bank. It aims to become the leading provider of payment solutions for online purchases in the Nordic countries.

Coolstuff is ready to expand further abroad. The Swedish online retailer that sells all kinds of crazy gadgets is already selling cross-border to customers in Norway, Denmark, Finland and Germany, but more countries are rising on the horizon. The next step for Coolstuff could be the Netherlands, its founders say.

The ecommerce industry in Sweden increased by 16 percent in 2014 and is now worth 42.9 billion Swedish kronor, or 4.53 billion euros. Ecommerce currently accounts for 6.4% of total retail sales in Sweden. Last year, more and more Swedish consumers used their mobile phones to shop online.

Swish, an app owned by six Swedish banks, can soon be used for ecommerce transactions. The payment solution that enables consumers to make real-time payments using their mobile phone has introduced a consumer-to-business solution and now wants to expand its service to the ecommerce sector.

E-Commerce Park has officially opened its doors. This new initiative will provide online merchants with the opportunity to benefit from the economies of scale that takes place when warehousing, logistics, knowledge and skills get shared.