The United Kingdom

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.

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 Mobile Innovations Award is a new award show for the EMEA region, to celebrate the enormous growth and innovation in mobile technology. Last week, the awards got presented in the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane, London and we have the full list of winners.

Online is the fastest growing channel in the British grocery market and is now worth almost 10 billion euros. And 29% of more than 1,000 shoppers polled by research agency Shoppercentric said they bought groceries online in the past month. It seems at the moment the online grocery market in the UK is one of few in Europe that has some serious legitimacy.

Klarna has taken another step toward expanding its presence in Europe by launching its services in the United Kingdom. The Swedish ecommerce company will invest 125 million euros in product development and roll-out, Klarna’s CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski confirmed at the London Technology Week. Klarna will have London as its base in the UK.

Facebook is a very popular social network amongst European online retailers. Except for the United Kingdom, where online retailers are more active on Twitter. But Twitter is however still less popular in the UK than in other countries like Germany or Spain. These two countries have the most social media savvy online retailers, as 90% of them are on Facebook and 80% are on Twitter.

Richemont takes high court action to stop websites in the United Kingdom from selling counterfeit products. This landmark case could change the content and future of the internet, some broadband providers fear. But the Swiss luxury company, behind e.g. Cartier jewellery and Montblanc Watches, won’t back down and is hoping for a positive court decision.

Email marketing service provider Soundest launched out of private beta in January, but now has crossed the 1000-user milestone. User growth is more than 50% month-on-month, while online stores from more than sixty countries are using the software that’s built solely for ecommerce sites.

There’s still a massive lack of multichannel integration in the United Kingdom, as 50% of retailers with stores, still don't allow unwanted goods bought online to be returned to a store. This number hasn't really changed in the last seven years, a new study shows.

retailer wants to focus on flagship stores and drive the online opportunity as well as the food opportunity. In France, the Netherlands and Belgium M&S wants to offer same day delivery for fresh food.

In the United Kingdom there are recently several activities employed and online platforms launched aimed at boosting trade with Central and Eastern Europe. A new UK-based ecommerce site for example aims to alert local companies about business opportunities in Romania, while another initiative is focused on selling British food online in Poland.

One in three of all sales that are made online in the United Kingdom take place on either a smartphone or a tablet. Visits to online stores via these mobile devices currently account for almost half of traffic. Especially in the apparel sector, mobile commerce shows strong numbers.

Godiva is expanding online by opening an online chocolate confectionery store in the United Kingdom. The luxury Belgian chocolatier has chosen eCommera and its cloud base ecommerce platform DynamicCommerce, which is powered by Demandware. The United Kingdom will be the fourth country where it sells its goods online.

What a customer wants to buy shouldn't be dictated by where he lives. That's what Nick Robertson, CEO and co-founder at Asos, told the audience at WWD Ceo Summit. He also thinks the high street is no longer the sole arbiter of fashion where choice is limited. "The high street's presence is being democratized. Twentysomethings have better things to do than go to the high street."

Although the retail industry in the United Kingdom is suffering, as more and more empty retail units arise, Amazon is not primarily to blame for this trend. At least, that's the opinion of Amazon's UK managing director Christopher North. “We are still a pretty small part of the total retail environment in the UK.”