The Netherlands

Divante, an e-business agency that supports other companies in optimizing their online sales, will enter the Dutch market. It already built an ecommerce site for Dutch company Loods5.nl and is now working on a whole new website for a Dutch online retailer. We interviewed Tom Karwatka, CEO of Divante, and discovered how they think about Dutch ecommerce…

Wehkamp will offer all of its Dutch customers same day delivery later this year. Thanks to the new distribution center it will open next month, the online retailer will be able to offer this option to online shoppers in the Netherlands.

An increasing number of Dutch people have become the victim of fraudulent online stores. On the other hand, the number of other cybercrime offences like hacking or identity fraud have decreased. In the Netherlands, it’s mostly highly educated people who become the victim of cyber criminals.

A survey among several European countries shows that it's especially the Dutch and Irish consumers who are interested in fashion deals. Italians on the other hand, aren't that keen on such deals. Of all 17 discount categories, coupon codes for women's clothing didn't make into the top 5 of most used discount codes for this country.

Dutch fashion retailer MS Mode is already active in six European countries, but wants to expand this number by launching an international store on Amazon and La Redoute. The expansion is planned for the end of this year. With this move, the fashion retailer expects to address a group of consumers that haven't shopped at MS Mode before.

iDeal, by far the most popular payment method in the Netherlands, keeps on growing. It was being used 103.9 million times during the first six months of this year. This is an increase of over 26% compared to the same period last year.

B2C Europe, a Dutch company that helps ecommerce businesses to operate over its countries borders, received 7,3 million euro from NIBC. With the money the company aims to continue its growth in target countries such as Italy, Germany, Switzerland and China.

The British electronica store Ao.com is building a new distribution center and offices for the European mainland. From there the retailer wants to expand in Germany and around. A launch in markets such as the Netherlands or Austria seems just a matter of time.

There's still trouble in the Dutch parcel industry. Independent mail carriers who work on behalf of PostNL don't like how the postal company treats them. PostNL now has offered them a chance to work for them as an employee, but not everyone is happy with this. Some couriers have gone on a strike, which causes 20% of all packages not to arrive at customer's homes in time.

Private equity investment group Apax Partners has acquired RFS Holland Holding, the owner of Dutch online retail stores Wehkamp.nl, Fonq and Create2Fit. The British company paid about 450 million euros for the acquisition.

Mister Spex has launched its service in the Netherlands. It's just one of the many destinations the Berlin-based ecommerce company has planned throughout Europe. Aside from contact lenses, Mister Spex claims to offer the most comprehensive range of directly available designer glassed and sunglassed in Europe.

Subco Partners, the association of independent mail carriers who work on behalf of PostNL, plans to start its own parcel company that can compete with PostNL. The most important reason for doing this, is the fact the mail carriers are unhappy with how the postal company treats them. They get treated as if they are freelancers, although the carriers mostly have PostNL as their only contractor.

Bol.com, the biggest online retailer in the Netherlands, has today introduced a same day delivery service for its customers. If they place an order before noon, customers can pick up their package at an Albert Heijn store nearby before 5 o'clock in the afternoon.

Internet platform StyleLounge, which specializes in online price comparisons for fashion and lifestyle products, is expanding into other European countries. The Hamburg-based search engine is now also offering its services in France and the Netherlands.

During the first quarter of 2015, Dutch consumers spent 4.4 billion euros online. Last year, online sales in the Netherlands during that period were worth 3.8 billion euros, so this means the ecommerce industry has increased by 16% year-on-year.