The United Kingdom

Three-quarters of British consumers believe they shouldn't have to pay for a click-and-collect service. If they order something online and then decide to pick it up in-store, consumers think it's more than acceptable to get that order without paying any additional fee. Meanwhile, UK retailer John Lewis revealed last week it would start charging shoppers on click-and-collect orders below £30 (€41.66).

The global online sales of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) increased by 28% last year alone and is expected to hit 118 billion euros globally, by the end of 2025. Although the biggest growth is expected to take place in markets like China and South Korea, still online purchasing will reach at least 10% in the UK and France.

Lidl is growing rapidly in the United Kingdom and to continue this further, the discount retailer is thinking about a move into ecommerce. The online activities could be a new way to compete with the Big Four of UK supermarkets: Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons.

Tesco and Sainsbury's are no longer offering a click & collect service for their customers at Tube stations in London. The two major supermarket chains have withdrawn from the tie-up with Transport for London (TfL) because too few customers used the service.

After the launch of One Touch for Web in the US, PayPal's payment feature will now expand to the United Kingdom as well as Canada. With One Touch, consumers can pay on the Web with a single click after their first login.

The 35 parcel stores of Doddle will join the pickup network from DPD on June 22, which enables customers in the United Kingdom to pick up their DPD-delivered parcels at Doddle stores in railway stations and popular shopping centers.

CarSpring has launched in the United Kingdom. This new online marketplace offers a solution for people who want to buy and sell pre-owned cars. But it's not only that, the startup also wants to take over all the unpopular side effects of car buying: from paperwork to transportation. For example, CarSpring delivers the ordered car right onto the customer's doorstep.

Ebay is planning to expand its click and collect service across Europe. The American ecommerce company saw its buyers collect 1.5 million parcels from British store chain Argos during the first year and a half the service is running. Ebay noy wants to boost its presence in Europe by entering into several partnerships.

Ordering something online and then picking it up in retail stores or other locations is incredibly popular in the United Kingdom. Almost 3 in 4 online shoppers (73%) say they have used click-and-collect services. Another 10 percent of British consumers intends to use the service in the near future.

The yearly Global Retail Ecommerce Index shows that in Europe the UK, Germany and France are still the most attractive ecommerce countries to set ground in. However, the score is highly influenced by the online market size. Smaller countries such as Belgium, Denmark and Spain have less impact but do increase fast in score.

Online fashion retailer Asos reported a 14% rise in revenue for six months to February 28 of this year. Most of the growth is thanks to UK retail sales, which grew from 250 million euros in 2014 to 318 million euros now, which is an increase of 27%. International retail sales grew only by 5%, but this part is still the main driver of the group's revenues of 756 million euros.

Global online sales for women's luxury fashion are expected to grow from a current 3% of the total market to 17% by 2018. By then, this market would be worth 10.92 billion euros. One of the main drivers of this surge is the exceptional expansion in China, but also the solid market growth in developed, Western markets like the United Kingdom, France and Germany.

Product ratings on Google Shopping are now also available for shoppers in the United Kingdom, France and Germany. Last year, the product ratings on Product Listing Ads were introduced in the United States, but now select Google users in Europe are also able to make better purchase decisions when shopping online.

It's great to see new shopping technologies arise on the horizon, but this also means consumer expectations have shifted. They now want online retailers to offer them an enhanced and more consistent shopping experience across channels.

Venstr is a new service in the United Kingdom that has been launched to help online retailers find reliable and trustworthy suppliers, thereby saving them time and money. The name Venstr comes from the ability to give vendors a star-rating.