Belgian ecommerce is not on the same track with surrounding countries and is rather seen as a playground for international companies which take in more and more ground.

"Despite this aspect, local e-tailers may develop more ecommerce opportunities for clients that are currently not being satisfied with other services. Furthermore, those local retailers with physical stores could use their outlets and available expertise to offer more service to customers. The dominance of foreign retailers is seen as an advantage for local sellers."

"Presently, ecommerce represents 3% of total retail sales, whereas the European average is about 5%. Still, 35% of Belgian orders are made from foreign web shops."

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In Q1 2014, the Dutch online expenditure reached EUR 3.63 billion, which represents a market share of 22% for the online retail industry.

"Out of the EUR 3.63 billion, 58% were spent on services and the remaining share was for product purchases. More than three-quarters of the 26 million online purchases were physical products, such as clothes, telecom and toys. A total of 6 million online transactions (23%) can be traced to purchases of services, such as tickets for attractions and events, flights and package holidays and insurances."

"In the same interval, consumers spent most on seat-only airplane tickets and accommodation. Media and entertainment is the largest market segment, in terms of online purchases, with 6.88 million, a segment which includes music downloads and paid apps."

"76% of the Dutch population aged 15 years and older made one or more purchases via internet in Q1 2014. This translates into a total of 10.5 million online purchasers, out of which a quarter of a million made their first purchase via internet. The proportion of the Dutch population that purchases online time and again has now exceeded the 90% mark."

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Businesses across Europe could achieve a 60 to 80 % costs saving by adopting electronic invoicing, compared to traditional paper-based processes.

"Nearly one quarter (24 %) of all bills and invoices will be processed electronically in 2014, with around six billion paperless invoices and bills to be exchanged across Europe. The report also anticipates a 22 % annual increase in e-invoicing and e-billing in business and government sectors."

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UK consumers are now spending nearly GBP 1 billion a day using mobile and online payment methods, recent findings indicate.

"Millions of British customers are now using contactless cards, payment by mobile and SMS balance alerts, with more than 15,000 people downloading banking apps every day."

"Overall, internet and mobile banking transactions were worth GBP 6.4 billion a week, up from GBP 5.8 billion last year. There were over 14.7 million downloads of mobile and tablet banking apps every week, with internet banking services receiving seven million log-ins per day."

"Spending on contactless cards would rise to GBP 6.1 million a week in 2014, up from GBP 3.2 million in 2013 as more banks offer the technology to customers."

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31% of Americans who use a mobile banking app, access the service at least once a day and more than four in five use it once a week or more.

"81% use their mobile banking app to check their balance, 49% to transfer funds between accounts and 48% to pay bills. Additionally, six in 10 respondents are not yet comfortable with the idea of using their smartphone as a wallet in the future."

"The majority of respondents continue to use bank branches, with 84% of respondents having visited a bank branch within the past six months. Only 23% complete the majority of their banking transactions at a bank branch. Only 47% are using either their mobile or online as their primary method of banking."

"60% of respondents are not yet comfortable with the idea of using their smartphone as a wallet in the future, with men reporting a higher comfort level than women (43% versus 33%). Nearly four in 10 respondents would not be comfortable using their phone to purchase something at checkout, but 6% do currently pay at the register with a mobile phone."

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