The Netherlands

iDeal is getting increasingly popular among Dutch consumers. The payment method was used for 59 percent of online purchases in the Netherlands last year. That's an increase of 3 percentage points compared to the situation one year before.

Fashion retailer Peek & Cloppenburg will open an online store in the Netherlands later this year. The retailer, which has three physical stores in the Netherlands, is focusing more and more on its online business. One year ago, the company opened its online store in Poland.

Ikea is launching a new app, which enables customers to visualize products in the context of their own homes and then order these items through the app. The new Ikea app will be launched first in France and the Netherlands.

Lidl has stopped selling wine online through its online shops in Belgium and the Netherlands. The supermarket chain wants to limit itself to selling only non-food items online.

Starting today, AliExpress customers in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Finland can choose when and how they want to pay for their goods. This is the result of a partnership between Klarna and AliExpress' payment service provider Adyen.

Consumers from the Netherlands have spent about 1.6 billion euros at foreign online stores that are located in the European Union last year. That's an increase of 17 percent compared to the situation in 2017.

Online retailer VidaXL has started the realization of its second distribution center. Just like the first one, this building will go up in Venlo, in the southern part of the Netherlands, near Germany. The new dc, which will measure 80,000 square meters, is set to open in March 2020.

Apple Pay is coming soon to the Netherlands. And the first partner is known. Major bank ING will be the one introducing Apple Pay on the Dutch market. It's not exactly clear when consumers will be able to pay with Apple Pay in the Netherlands.

Micolet, an online marketplace that sells second-hand clothing for women, will expand to two new markets in Europe. The startup will set foot in both Poland and the Netherlands later this year. With this expansion, Micolet will be active in eight countries across Europe.

Picnic, the online-only supermarket from the Netherlands, launched its business in Germany one year ago. Now, the ecommerce company is already profitable in two German cities. In Mönchengladbach, the supermarket makes even more revenue than at the best location the Netherlands.

Beerwulf, a Heineken-owned startup that sells beer online, will expand to more countries in Europe. The company will expand to the same countries where home tap retailer The Sub is already active. Last month, Heineken consolidated The Sub and Beerwulf.

There were 5 million Dutch consumers who shopped online cross-border last year. That's a significant increase of 32 percent compared to the situation one year before, when there were 3.8 million cross-border shoppers in the Netherlands. Together, these 5 million people spent about 880 million euros at foreign ecommerce websites.

Dutch supermarket Albert Heijn has revealed a sneak preview of its latest innovation. The company is working on delivery robots. During this summer, the little robot cars will deliver groceries to customers on the High Tech Campus Eindhoven, home to more than 140 tech companies and institutions.

De Bijenkorf, a high-end department store chain from the Netherlands, will soon open an online store in Germany. The retail company will start with its German ecommerce website somewhere during the summer.

Ecommerce in the Netherlands was worth 23.7 billion euros in 2018. That's an estimated growth of 10 percent compared to the situation one year before. Last year, 96 percent of consumers aged 15 and over have purchased something online at least once.