The Netherlands

Dutch ecommerce software provider BiedMeer will change its name into CCV Shop starting January 13, 2015. The company was acquired by CCV Group nine months ago and it now wants to use this name to start its services in Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland, as the name “BiedMeer” (literally: “offer more”) won’t ring any bells across the Dutch borders.

Dutch pick up service De Buren ("The Neighbors") has closed deals with DHL Parcel and TNT, as a result of which these parcel delivery companies have 50 extra unmanned pick up locations throughout the country. DHL Parcel was only just starting with placing their own locker systems, following Parcel4Me and market leader PostNL.

Bol.com, the biggest ecommerce site in the Netherlands, has reported revenue of 680 million euros for 2013, which is half of the 1.4 billion euros revenue generated by mother company Ahold as a whole. Bol.com now wants to hit the 1 billion euros mark in 2017.

Amazon has launched its Dutch ecommerce site. Starting tomorrow morning 8 AM, customers can order ebooks and Amazon's Kindle ereaders online on Amazon.nl. The site offers more than 20,000 Dutch ebooks, as well as 3 million ebooks in other languages. As a result of the launch of Amazon in the Netherlands, the apps and ereaders from the American retailer are now also available in the Dutch language.

Since time immemorial, the Netherlands and Belgium have influenced each other on several fronts. They not only share the same language (although the Walloon part of Belgium speaks French, not Dutch), but also have much in common on cultural, sport and economic levels. In the ecommerce industry however, it’s mostly Dutch players who influence the Belgian industry and not the other way around.

Online grocery shopping is getting more and more popular. In fact, the global online grocery market is expected to grow with 25% over the next five years. SyndicatePlus believes online grocery is the next frontier in ecommerce and took it upon themselves to map the European online grocery shopper. Let’s have a look at their study.

Amazon is getting very serious about entering the Dutch market with its online store. More and more publishers state the American ecommerce giant has contacted them to negotiate about selling e-books. But it won't be easy for Jeff Bezos's brainchild as Dutch publishers aren't so eager to join forces with Amazon.

Wehkamp will launch a Belgian website later this year. The Dutch company is developing a completely new online store for the Belgian market. The product range will consist of some 150,000 item from about 1200 different brands. It’s for the first time ever Wehkamp has gone cross-border.

What are the biggest online stores in leading ecommerce countries like Germany or the Netherlands and which players dominate the ecommerce industry in the Alps? We've got the answers for you and we can already give one thing away: Amazon is everywhere and seems very unstoppable.

PayPal's Pay After Delivery will soon be available in the Netherlands, which makes it the third country after the United States and Spain to offer this service to its customers. With Pay After Delivery customers get 14 days for their item to be delivered before they pay for their purchase.

The Dutch online store Bol.com has made some big changes to its design, in order to be ready “for the future”. The redesign is not something that came out of nowhere, as the ecommerce site was already renovating its site design. Last year it started with the first few tests and two months ago the site navigation changed completely. Bol.com will also release its own mobile apps later this year.

The self-appointed ‘biggest online music store in The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg’ is planning to spread throughout more countries in Europe. Earlier this year Bax-shop already launched online stores in France (Bax-shop.fr) and Germany (Bax-shop.de). Sweden, Italy, UK and Spain are on the list for next year.

The Dutch in general have a good reputation when it comes to paying their bills. Therefore paying by invoice and thus after delivery has been very common. Nonetheless the larger Dutch banks founded iDeal, an online payment method that forces consumers to pay in advance. The method is the most frequently used payment method among Dutch internet consumers. How does that effect post-pay behavior?

Allyouneed.com is expanding its services in Europe. The German online grocery retailer already delivered foods and drinks in Austria, but is now ready for the next step. Allyouneed.com will deliver to customers in France, Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark.

Coolblue, the Dutch ecommerce company famous for its dozens of online shops, has reported revenue growth of  55% during the first six months of 2014, a significant gain on its usual quarterly growth of about 40%. This revenue growth is something Coolblue didn’t expect. It used to think its revenue will grow to 300 million euros this year, but for now the forecast is changed into 350 million euros.