The Swedish e-commerce scene is about to become stronger than ever as the year starts with two new initiatives launched. On the one hand there is launch of groundbreaking measurement tool for e-commerce sector that will help with in-depth analysis of industry’s performance, the E-handel Index. And on the other hand there is creation of new e-commerce park of Sweden a coworking space and logistics center that aims to solve e-commerce companies problems related to logistics, operations or warehouses. What is notable is that the name of Dan Nilsson, founder of Ehandel.se and former entrepreneur behind Roliga Prylar / AlphaGeek, appears in both cases.
Indexing the entire e-commerce scene
Development of the e-commerce index (Ehandelsindex) tool began in 2010. A year later Dan Nilsson landed at number 20 with this project in the list of entrepreneurs of the year. Today, four years later, e-commerce index is finally launched in beta version and has already listed over 11,000 e-commerce ventures in Sweden – the starting point of for it. The service gathers data automatically and is the most comprehensive information about Sweden’s e-commerce available, and companies are verified and reviewed manually.
The interesting part of the index is that it connects company’s data with many e-retailers to show profitability, sales and economic development of various industries over time. There is also an opportunity to use some external data sources, but this feature is not yet available.
“E-commerce index is currently available in beta and we’re still working to fine-tune all parameters and the system in general. We are also working to align all the classifications and measurements. Our journey has begun, but we are certainly not at its goal yet,” says Dan Nilsson
If you check e-commerce index, you can find plenty of interesting information about the industry in general. For example, how many Swedish e-retailers accept Bitcoin (0.22%) or whether delivery service makes any difference for company’s performance (companies using PostNord services are observed to have higher profitability than those that use DHL, but both have positive incomes). At the same time, e-commerce index offers plenty of information about individual companies which includes data on their latest financial statements, credit rating, profit margin and much more.
There is a number of reports about about e-commerce industry and its performance such as by DIBS, PostNord, and HUI. The main shortcoming of such reports is that they are survey-based. With the help of e-commerce index, however, it will be possible to also get some hard numbers for more detailed industry analysis.
Physical space for e-commerce
The newly created E-commerce Park of Sweden, in turn, will enhance e-commerce by helping companies to solve the most common problems related to logistics, operations or warehouses. Co-founded by Dan Nilsson and Karsten Deppert (transperancy: Karsten Deppert is also the initiator of this site), the e-commerce park is located in Helsingborg, that has perfect combination of entrepreneurship and logistics.
“We start with about 2,000 sqm of office space and 5,000 sqm warehouse. The hope is that already within 2 years there will be growing need to expand,” says Karsten Deppert, co-founder.
The park is also planned to become a hub of energy, creativity and effective solutions that will help entrepreneurs in the e-commerce field to learn quicker from each-other and help the industry to flourish.
Dan and Karsten have already previously a joint company, the webcontent and translation service Contentor. This is the second time they co-found an e-commerce related venture.
