A summary of eCommerce related information relating to Luxembourg. This information is from "Preparing Your Business for Global eCommerce" prepared by the U.S. Commercial Service for exporters.
Last Published: 7/17/2016

Overview

Luxembourg is situated between Belgium, France, and Germany. The capital of Luxembourg is Luxembourg. With an area of 998 square miles, Luxembourg is the smallest country in the region. The country is a representative democracy with a constitutional monarch.

Statistics

population: 550,00(est.)
GDP (USD): 46.043 billion(proj.20150
Currency: Euro
Language: Luxembourgish, German, French

Market Entry

Popular E-Commerce Sites

Data specific to Luxembourg is not available; however, regionally, Marketingfacts lists the top e-commerce companies in the region  as
  • Ahold
  • RFS Holland Holding
  • Coolblue
  • thuisbezorgd.nl
  • BAS Group
  • KPN
  • H&M
  • Ticketmaster Nederland
  • HEMA
The seven most-used web stores, according to E-commerce News (2014b),  are Only Zalando and H&M are foreign  companies.

Digital Advertising

Online advertising is outpacing published advertising. Online adverting can be seen everywhere. Most businesses use cookies for direct advertising and product  placement .The term programmatic media (also known as programmatic marketing or programmatic advertising) encompasses an array of technologies that automate the buying, placement, and optimization of media inventory, replacing human-based methods. In this process, supply and demand partners use automated systems and business rules to place advertisements in electronically targeted media  inventory.

Fulfillment Centers

bol.com, bit.ly/1KmxQUC 

Current Market Trends

In 2014, all trends indicated growth compared with 2013 and the years before: the amount of online spending (+31.7 percent), the number of buyers and orders (+2 percent), and revenue (+10 percent). Marketingfacts reports that these numbers are expected to  continue to increase.  

Social Media

Facebook, YouTube, Google+, LinkedIn, and Twitter are among the most popular social media sites. Pinterest and Instagram are gaining popularity, especially for users between 15 and 39 years of age. Facebook usage decreases in this group (Oosterveer   2015). 

Online Payment

iDEAL is the most common way to pay. This payment method allows customers to buy products on the Internet using direct online transfers from their bank  account.
 
Credit cards, payment slips, and authorizations are the next most popular payment mechanisms. Remittances, PayPal, gift vouchers, PIN-debit transactions, cash, and others close the list (Marketingfacts n.d.).

Mobile E-Commerce

Data specific to Luxembourg is not available; regionally, however, 13 percent of the total e-commerce purchases made in the Netherlands were via m-commerce. Of USD 1.7 billion total spending on e-commerce during the last half of 2013, about USD 976 million  was  30 percent were conducted on smartphones (USD 270 million) and 70 percent were on tablets (USD 706 million). The number of people purchasing goods on their mobile devices increases every year (Thuiswinkel.org  2013).transactions, the Of Ecommerce.

Promotions and Discounts

Use a variety of promotions and discounts. Discount codes are the most common and successful option; weekly and daily deals also appear to be very effective. Free shipping and free returns can attract potential customers. Further, offering a smartphone app that offers them an extra discount has been shown to attract customers (Retail News   2015).

Current Demand

Cross-Border E-Commerce

Although Luxembourg-specific data is not available, regionally, some 2.8 million Dutch (20 percent) purchased goods from a foreign website in 2014; total cross-border spending was USD 519 billion. The United States ranks fourth when it comes to cross-border spending in the Netherlands.

Challenges

 The largest websites are not in English. However, addressing a target audience through advertising in English is possible in some ways. As the Kissmetrics blog   reports,
Countries like Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands score well on  the ability to speak English. That’s why many American e-commerce businesses decide to target these countries in English. However, it’s  also important to take national pride into consideration here, meaning that even Norwegian, Danish, and Dutch customers appreciate if you target them in their own language, resulting in better success  rates.
However, even if you decide to go for a local language, you should be  careful.

Both the Dutch and close to half of the Belgians (the Flemish) speak Dutch as a native language. But just like American English is different from British English, Dutch in the Netherlands differs from Dutch in Belgium. And, both the Dutch and the Flemish prefer to be addressed in their own   language.In general terms, you should aim for local languages as much as possible. (Welink  2014)

 

Prepared by the International Trade Administration. With its network of 108 offices across the United States and in more than 75 countries, the International Trade Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce utilizes its global presence and international marketing expertise to help U.S. companies sell their products and services worldwide. Locate the trade specialist in the U.S. nearest you by visiting http://export.gov/usoffices.