According to this, Netherlands-based global payment services company Adyen has partnered Sweden-based online retail payments company Klarna to deliver an invoice-based payment solution tailored for airlines and travel merchants.

"The new invoice-based solution it is available for airlines in Europe, making it possible for travellers transacting online to pay for their tickets via instalments. One of the first airlines to offer this payment option to its customers is SAS (Scandinavian Airlines)."

"Invoicing is a popular payment method in Sweden and Germany, respectively accounting for a 21 and 11% share of all payments in each country. The new invoice-based payment solution from Adyen and Klarna enables online shoppers to pay for the full amount of their flight tickets up to 24 months after purchase. As Klarna assumes the full credit and fraud risks from the merchant, the solution provides a way to extend the payment period without any additional risk being incurred by the airline."

According to this, The Municipal Government of Chongqing, a major city in central China with a population of 29.4 million, has revealed plans to develop a Big Data cross-border e-commerce platform that will help businesses better compete in the global market.

"The platform uses Big Data mining technology that covers 800 million overseas consumers in 89 countries. Using analytics, the platform provides businesses with information such as the size of their target market, the consumers’ preferred styles and colours and exact volume of stock demanded."

"Instead of building their own websites, businesses can join this platform and sell directly to these consumers. Moreover, the market insights allow businesses to make more informed and quicker decisions about entering into the global market."

Ecommerce Europe published a report on Eastern Europe e-commerce.

"With an average growth rate of 35.7% over the year 2012, the e-commerce market in Eastern Europe is comparatively showing the strongest increase in Europe. The projected online turnover of €19.3 bn for 2013 indicates that there is a lot of ground to gain in the region: Only 27 of 106 million internet users are to date using the internet for shopping."

"The report defines the region as consisting of Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Moldova, Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, FYR Macedonia and Serbia. Russia, Ukraine and Romania, respectively boasting an e-commerce turnover of €10.3 bn, €1.2 bn and €0.8 bn. The 27 million e-shoppers of the Eastern European region generate a total turnover of €13.1 bn. The region‘s share in Europe’s total e-commerce turnover in 2012 is 7%."

"Often referred to as the “sleeping giant”, Russia already stands out with head and shoulders above the other countries of the region. The largest single market in Europe boasts the largest online population with 68 million internet users and 20 million online shoppers, generating a lion’s share of 78.5% of the regions total e-commerce market. Ukraine ranks second with total sales of €1.25 bn, followed by Romania with an online turnover of €0.8 bn. Russians spent on average €515,- on the internet in 2012, whereas Ukrainians spent €510,- and Romanians €400,-. "

"With an average growth of 47% over 2012, the Ukrainian e-commerce market outperforms its regional neighbors Russia (35.5%) and Romania (33.3%). When it comes to internet penetration, Romania leads the way with a share of 54% of the population, followed by Bulgaria with 51%. Russia and Ukraine are on par with 50%."

“There is a lot of potential in the Eastern European e-commerce market. First of all, only 27 million of 162 million inhabitants are shopping online - a percentage bound to increase once internet penetration is picking up pace. As demand will rise across this region, logistic services will improve, enabling retailers to serve also the less urbanized areas. Especially in a country like Russia this opens up a market of millions of new customers.”

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="560"] Source SchaafPC[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="709"] Source Business2Community[/caption]