The Netherlands

Online payment method iDeal from the Netherlands registered the billionth transaction that happened via its system. The milestone was reached during King's Day in the Netherlands, the national holiday that marks the birth of King Willem-Alexander. The online payment system has a market share of 56 percent and is being used since 2005.

When you are running an ecommerce website in the Netherlands, you can't avoid offering iDeal. For years, this local payment method is the most popular online payment method in the Netherlands. A new graphic shows the other popular options you should offer as an online retailer.

Food-order company Takeaway from the Netherlands is considering an initial public offering that could the service at more than 1 billion euros. Official details aren't public yet, but news agency Bloomberg spoke to some people familiar with the matter.

Bol.com, the biggest online retailer in the Netherlands, is moving from being a traditional ecommerce player into a selling platform and fulfilment partner for third-party retailers. In an interview with Belgian newspaper De Tijd, managing director Daniël Ropers compared Bol.com with Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba. "We are building a network of expertise, retailers, services and products."

WeMarket has today officially launched its B2B marketplace. International buyers and sellers can do business with each other on this online platform, without having to deal with private customers. The Dutch website is an initiative of one of the founders of file transfer website WeTransfer.

B2C Ecommerce sales in the Netherlands are expected to reach 18 billion euros in 2016. The ecommerce industry was worth slightly more than 16 billion euros last year, but according to the Ecommerce Foundation the online retail industry is expected to increase by 12.1 percent and thus reach 18.014 billion euros.

Online retailer Bol.com was awarded with a prize for best online store in the Netherlands. The Ahold-owned ecommerce player won this award during the annual Thuiswinkel Awards Gala, a popular event which honors the best ecommerce players in the Dutch retail industry.

Ecommerce in the Netherlands was worth 16.07 billion euros in 2015. During that year, ecommerce sales increased by 16.1 percent compared to the year before. Also, Dutch consumers completed more than 142 million purchases online, which is an increase of 17.4 percent compared to 2014.

Dutch international retailer Ahold expects its online retail brand Bol.com to be a €1 billion plus consumer sales brand already in 2016. Last year, Ahold generated online revenues being worth 1.8 billion euro. Half of its digital sales came from Bol.com, which thus generated about 900 million euros in sales.

The British online retailer AO World has opened its online store in the Netherlands. After launching in Germany last year, AO now wants to sell household appliances like washing machines and refrigerators to Dutch consumers. It will try to beat the local competition with a best price guarantee, free delivery and trade-in of old products.

Coolblue, a popular retailer from the Netherlands, will now be reselling 'second chance' items, products which have been returned by customers, in its shops for a reduced price. It already sold these products through an outlet section on eBay-owned marketplace Marktplaats, but will now also mention and sell them on product pages in its online stores.

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.

Amazon is currently testing drones for its Amazon Prime Air delivery service in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, as well as in Canada. This was revealed by Amazon's CEO and founder Jeff Bezos. This is interesting news, as the current legislature in the Netherlands doesn't allow autonomous drones yet.

Dutch ecommerce event Webwinkel Vakdagen will be celebrating its 10-year anniversary when it takes place next month. Webwinkel Vakdagen, seen as one of the biggest ecommerce events in Europe, will this year be focusing on the customer experience, customer retention, omnichannel and cross-border.

Private-equity firm Carlyle will acquire Dutch lingerie retailer Hunkemöller from PAI Partners. Capital for the purchase will come from the European-focused buyout fund Carlyle Europe Partners IV. The value of the transaction is not disclosed, but is probably around 440 million euros.