Sweden

Ecommerce in Sweden is growing rapidly and this year every fourth household has shopped online for groceries. Online sales of foods and drinks has made a breakthrough in Sweden, statistics from GFK have revealed. Until September of this year, the purchase of food online was worth 5.4 billion kronor, or 550 million euros. This corresponds with 4.2 percent of total sales of foods.

Klarna is reported to have made a bid for German payment service BillPay. That company is now owned by Wonga, a major British short-term lender which lending practices have been controversial. Wonga is said to consider the offer Swedish fintech company Klarna has made.

The ecommerce industry in Sweden has shown significant growth during the second quarter this year. The online retail sector saw its sales increase by 18 percent during these three months, compared to the same period last year. Expectations are the ecommerce industry in Sweden will be worth 58 billion Swedish kronor, or 6.08 billion euros.

Payment cards are the most popular payment method among Swedish ecommerce customers. A new study points out that more than half of Swedish consumers (54) percent prefer to use their card when they are ready to pay online. Another popular payment method in Sweden is invoice, which is used by 28 percent.

One in five consumers in Sweden already brought groceries online last year, but the online food industry in this European country is expected to grow even more significant in 2016. According to a report by the Swedish Trade Federation, it's expected to grow by 1.6 billion kronor, 169 million euros, during this year.

One in three online shoppers in Sweden also shop at foreign stores. But which international ecommerce websites are the most popular among Swedish consumers? Global couponing platform CupoNation analyzed the data for six months and shares the most visited online stores, both local and foreign, in Sweden.

Soon, consumers in Stockholm will be able to pick up their parcels at the subway, when Nordic logistics company Bring expands the number of automated parcel lockers in the Swedish capital. For this operation, Bring has partnered with Stockholm public transport company SL.

Consumers in Sweden don't think highly of traditional stores, it seems. A third of shoppers expect to be disappointed by the in-store experience and one in four think the store is outdated when compared to online shopping. The in-store journey should be more connected with customers' online shopping habits if Swedish retailers want to improve their conversions, a study suggests.

Ecommerce in Sweden increased by 15 percent during the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year. For the whole of 2016, an increase of 16 percent is forecasted, which would mean ecommerce in Sweden will be worth 58 billion kronor, or 6.2 billion euros, in 2016.

Fyndiq, an online bargain marketplace from Sweden, has decided to quit its business in Germany. After less than a year, the Swedish company hung a "Sorry, we're closed" sign on its German ecommerce website. Now Fyndiq is only active in Sweden again.

DHL has joined forces with the Finnish postal operator Posti and Bring, a subsidiary of Norwegian postal operator Posten Norge. Together they offer a B2C infrastructure for parcel deliveries across Scandinavia, Finland and the Baltic states. With 6,500 parcel shops and parcel stations across seven countries it will be the largest parcel network in northern Europe.

Consumers in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark have purchased goods online worth a total of 17.39 billion euros in 2015. That's an increase of around 15 percent compared to the year before. Four out of ten Nordic residents bought goods online from foreign websites, spending a total of about 4.3 billion euros across the border.

Adlibris, the leading online bookstore in the Nordics, is partnering with CDON to sell books via the CDON Marketplace. As a result of this partnership, CDON will phase out its own assortment of books. Its current sales volume of books is in the range 21-27 million euros on an annual basis.

Ecommerce in Sweden has increased by 19 percent to reach 50 billion kronor, or 5.36 billion euros, in 2015. Since the financial crisis, the growth of this industry hasn't been as strong as it was last year. The strong purchasing power is the key driver for this growth.

Outfittery has expanded its service throughout Europe by offering a free pick-up service. This will make it even easier for customers to return items they don't like: Outfittery will pick up the items at the customer's home without asking any fee for it.