The Netherlands

iDeal, the most popular payment method in the Netherlands, is being used more and more on mobile devices. Currently, seven out of ten iDeal payments are done from a smartphone or tablet. Mobile person-to-person payments are particularly popular.

Dutch online retailer Bol.com reported net consumer online sales worth 2.1 billion euros in 2018. That's an increase of 31.25 percent compared to the situation in 2017, when Bol.com generated net consumer sales worth 1.6 billion euros.

Couriers from PostNL who deliver parcels to customers' homes, will now also accept parcels that need to be returned to an online retailer. By offering this new service, PostNL hopes to the reduce the amount of trips to the supermarket or store, where most customers hand over their returns.

Dutch food delivery group Takeaway.com has acquired the businesses of Delivery Hero in Germany. The acquisition comprises the Lieferheld, Pizza.de and Foodora brands in Germany and is in return for cash and a equity stake in Takeaway.com.

The Netherlands are the new number one on the annual B2C E-commerce Index from UN conference UNCTAD. The Dutch have surpassed Luxembourg, which now finds itself on a 19^th position. The top three is completed by Singapore and Switzerland.

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.

Bol.com, the major Dutch online retailer, is transforming into a marketplace for third party sellers. Nowadays, there are over 20,000 sellers active on the Bol.com platform and they account for about 40 percent of the company's sales.

Payments companies Klarna and Mollie will work together more intensively in Europe. As of today, the payment solutions from Klarna will be available as standard for the more than 55,000 customers Mollie has in Europe.

Bol.com, the biggest online retailer in the Netherlands, has finally entered the food and drink industry. The ecommerce giant now sells wine, craft beer, champagne, whisk(e)y and other liquors through its website.

Bol.com is, again, the biggest online store in the Netherlands. Just like in 2016 and 2017, there is no online retailer with a bigger revenue to be found in the Western European country. Last year, the Ahold subsidiary generated 1.22 billion euros in online revenue.

The Netherlands has the most online stores per capita. In this country, there are about 80,000 online stores with a population of 17 million. That means there are 214 people per online store, a density that's nowhere to be found anywhere else in the world. In the Netherlands, online shops have to fight hard for every visitor.

Bol.com, the popular Dutch online department store, made some changes to its paid Select model. Subscribers will now get free delivery on all products, regardless of the order value. Previously, Bol.com Select offered free delivery only on 300.000 selected products.

Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn is currently experimenting with a smart door lock, so groceries can be delivered to a customer's place, even when the customer isn't at home. The test is part of Albert Heijn Online Labs, which invents and develops new concepts to improve the supermarket's service.

Loberon, an online furniture store from Germany, has launched a dedicated ecommerce website in the Netherlands. The launch marks the third time the German retailer opened an online store abroad, after starting operations in Austria and Switzerland.

The popular Dutch payment method iDeal performed well last year. The number of payments with iDeal has increased by 33.8 percent during that period, which is a growth the method hasn't seen since 2011. More and more foreign online stores are now offering iDeal to Dutch customers.