The Netherlands

Instabox, a Swedish company that offers same-day delivery through its network of lockers, has acquired Red Je Pakketje. This is a Dutch company known for its same-day delivery with short time slots and sustainable transport.

Dutch department store De Bijenkorf is expanding in Europe again. After launching an ecommerce website in France last year, it's now opening an online store in Austria. This marks the fourth foreign market for the Dutch omnichannel retailer.

Dutch wholesale platform Orderchamp has raised 16.5 million euros for further expansion in Europe. The Series A-round was led by venture capital firm Prime Ventures, while existing investors henQ and several business angels also participated.

Fashionette, an online platform for luxury fashion accessories, has acquired Dutch jewelry store Brandfield. With this acquisition, the German company Fashionette wants to accelerate its international profitable growth.

Chinese ecommerce giant JD will open a new distribution center in the Netherlands. The B2C online retailer will open a site that's 18,000 square meters big.

Last year, Dutch consumers spent nearly 2.6 billion euros on purchases from foreign online shops within the European Union. This amounts to an increase of almost 32 percent compared to the situation a year earlier.

VidaXL, an online retailer from the Netherlands, will build two new fulfillment centers in Europe. One will open in the Netherlands, while the other will arise in Poland. The two fulfillment centers are part of VidaXL's growth strategy.

Ecommerce in the Netherlands was worth 26.6 billion euros in 2020. That's a growth of 7 percent compared to the situation in 2019. Of course, the increase of online purchases by Dutch consumers has everything to do with the coronavirus outbreak.

StoreShippers, a same-day-delivery service that collects and delivers from store, has launched its services in Ireland. The Dutch logistics company is now active in 7 countries across Europe.

Bol.com, the biggest online store in the Netherlands, has generated sales worth 4.3 billion euros in 2020. That's way more than was expected by its holding, Ahold Delhaize. Of course, it has everything to do with the closure of physical stores in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Picnic has shown strong growth in 2020 and is busy with the expansion to France. Sources say that last year, the Dutch online supermarket had managed to double its revenue, which is now predicted to be worth almost half a billion euros.

Dutch omnichannel retailer Coolblue is considering an initial public offering. HAL, which currently has a 49 percent interest in Coolblue, has confirmed the IPO consideration. It's expected the IPO may take place this year.

The Netherlands is the most popular destination for online retailers looking to expand. These ecommerce players see this Western European country as the number one place to expand their logistics operations.

Dutch fulfillment company Active Ants is growing fast. In October 2020, the company opened its second fulfillment center in the Netherlands, and the opening of two other sites are already planned. Ecommerce News Europe spoke with managing partner Jeroen Dekker about their ambitions.

Sellpy has launched in both the Netherlands and Austria today. The second-hand platform, which is part of H&M Group, is now active in four countries across Europe. Previously, it launched in Sweden and Germany.