The United Kingdom

Just 56 percent of small and medium-sized online businesses in the United Kingdom sell to customers abroad. That's significantly less than in other major online retail markets. But at the same time there is a high customer demand for British goods. Free shipping could be the answer, PayPal suggests.

The Internet of Things is wildly popular among consumers. UK department store chain John Lewis has now launched a new smart home department to showcase all kinds of gadgets that should make the consumer's life at home more convenient.

Veridu, a London-based startup that offers identiy solutions for the payments industry, has secured investment from Worldpay Group. The exact amount of the investment is unknown, but the company will use it to further develop and roll out its solutions globally.

It seems like raising the limit on how much people can spend using contactless pay was a good choice. Millions of pounds have been spent by Britons swiping their card or mobile device, since the limit went up from from £20 to £30 in September last year.

Zenstores, a British shipping platform for online sellers, has today launched an integration with WooCommerce, according to Builtwith the most popular ecommerce platform on the web. Ecommerce sellers with a Wordpress site can now manage orders and dispatch items more easily.

On Demand Solutions, a UK company that already has ecommerce software for B2B retailers, has now launched an ecommerce software solution for B2C retailers. It focuses especially on small and medium-sized companies. The B2C version of ecommerce solution ODSnet has omni-channel functionality.

German discount retailer Aldi has expanded its range of products that it offers via its British ecommerce website. It added non-food items such as electrical goods and garden tools, after it entered the ecommerce scene in January by offering cases of wines for home delivery.

Veeqo, a Wales company that offers ecommerce inventory software, has acquired UK parcel delivery startup ParcelBright. The acquisition should help Veeqo with achieving its goal of making selling easier for online sellers. ParcelBright’s service and software will be merged into Veeqo, with a focus on further improving its online sellers' productivity.

Amazon has signed a deal with the major UK supermarket chain Morrisons to deliver fresh and frozen groceries to Amazon's customers who make use of Amazon Prime Now and Amazon Pantry. The supply arrangement is a great deal for Amazon who wants to get fresh foods to customers as quickly as possible.

Android Pay is said to be launched in the United Kingdom at the end of March. With this payment system, Google wants to encourage Android users to use their device for contactless payments. It will need to compete with the contactless payment systems of mobile OS rivals Apple and Samsung, but also with mobile payment solutions like Barclaycard bPay, EE Cash on Tap and V.Me.

Argos has partnered with Google and now shows the product availability from its local stores in real-time in the search results. Google also runs tests with other retail partners in the UK, as well with companies in Germany, France, Australia and Japan.

For the first time ever smartphones and tablets accounted for over half of online sales in the United Kingdom. During the period November 2015 to January this year, 51 percent of UK online retail sales took place using smartphones and tablets. This is a significant increase on the 45 percent share recorded in the third quarter of last year.

The wheeled drones from Starship Technology have been tested in central London and are set to start being deployed in the UK capital later this month. After 3,000 hours of testing the self-driving boxes will undertake local delivery trails in Greenwich, part of South-east London.

Visa will make its online payment service Visa Checkout available to merchants and consumers in the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Poland and Spain this year. With Visa Checkout, users have the security and convenience of the Visa card, but then in the digital world.

Consignor, a delivery management software company founded in the Nordics, has entered the British market. In the UK, it wants to help companies to streamline their shipping process. The expansion is the result of an increasing demand from customers and partners to support that market in the platform.