Sweden

H&M and Klarna have entered into a global partnership. Among other services, this partnership will power the H&M Club1 payment program, provide an enhanced omnichannel payment offering for customers and a streamlined post-purchase service in the mobile H&M app.

The online branches of H&M Group are slowly surpassing the offline stores when it comes to geographical presence. Four of the total of nine H&M brands are even bigger online than they are in the physical world.

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.

Ecommerce in Sweden has increased just slightly during last year and was worth 14.5 billion euros at the end of 2017. After an increase of 4.1 percent, the B2C ecommerce turnover of Sweden grew only 400,000 euros compared to the situation in 2016.

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.

Eko, a Swedish chain of hypermarkets owned by Bergendahls, will not only expand its business by opening new physical stores, it also entered a new market online. The company has launched its first ecommerce platform, called E by Night, which sells sex toys and related products online.

Fast-growing fashion brand Chiquelle is ready for the new fashion season and will introduce an augmented reality app to its customers in Europe. Together with tech company Figuratic, Chiquelle will launch a virtual shopping experience based on AR and 3D technologies.

Swedish postal service PostNord has signed a deal with Wish, so customers will no longer have to pay VAT or handling fees upon the arrival of parcels to Sweden. Instead, shoppers will now be charged VAT at the point of purchase. As a result, Swedish customers will get their order faster than before.

Afound, H&M's newest retail brand, has announced that it will open its online store on 14 June. On that day, the outlet brand will also open the doors of its physical store in Stockholm. Two days later, the Malmö store will open.

PayPal has signed an agreement to acquire iZettle, a Swedish fintech company that's aimed at small businesses. PayPal will pay 2.2 billion euros for iZettle, which makes it the biggest acquisition of PayPal ever.

Fintech company iZettle has launched its own ecommerce software solution. iZettle E-commerce is meant for current iZettle customers that want to sell their products online and for new customers to the Swedish company.

Online optician Mister Spex continues to expand its multichannel approach across Europe and now offers its partner optician program also in Sweden. The Scandinavian country is the fifth market in Europe where customers have access to services as free eye tests and eyewear adjustments through partnering opticians.

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.

Ecommerce in Sweden has increased by almost 16 percent last year. The online retail industry in this Scandinavian country was worth about 67 billion Swedish kronor, or 6.7 billion euros, which is just below the forecast of 67.7 billion kronor.