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The European Union is becoming more and more inhospitable for Google, as the EU has sentenced the Internet giant fines in the billions over the last two years. Google may have to shell out more in fines in 2019, as well as making changes to its service. The EU Commission has been scrutinising Google's big money-maker, AdSense for over two years now, and a verdict is set to come this year. It's been an expensive two years for Google, with the company being fined €2.4 billion against product search in 2017, and €4.3 billion against Android in 2018.

Buying on the Internet is often cheaper than making a purchase at a bricks-and-mortar store. There are many reasons for the lower prices found online, like online retailers not needing store personnel or cutting out (most of) the middle man. E-commerce grows every year and is a multi-billion dollar industry, but with some of those billions being lost to tax evasion. In the UK, there is a big crackdown on sellers who are dodging taxes to offer those low, low prices. 

Germany has had a data breach – one of it’s largest in history, with politicians and prominent celebrities losing sensitive data over the Internet. The interior minister for the southern state of Bavaria, Joachim Herrmann, said he was appalled at the way the federal government and the BSI (Federal German Security Agency) have handled the scandal. The BSI dismissed a breach in December as a one-off incident. A German student admits to the data hack.

Tesco has unveiled its new discounter brand called Jack’s. Tired of watching Aldi and Lidl win all the bargain hunter customers, they plan to compete with the competition by offering a free smart shop app that allows customers to pay for items on the go. The allows shoppers to scan the barcode on the items or shelf-front and pay simply by tapping their phone on a self-service checkout terminal before leaving. Jack's is also marketed as selling mostly British products.

If Alibaba or anyone else decides to buy Zalando, they would be instantly catapulted to the top of the online fashion industry in Europe, since Zalando's share price since July's peak could put the online fashion retailer on the chopping block – with Alibaba, Amazon and Hennes & Mauritz looking on. Two reductions to its sales forecast within 6 weeks has sent Zalando stock into a tailspin, but the online fashion retailer has the data of more than 25 million customers and more than 2.5 billion customer website visits per year.

The holidays are a magical time of year for online retailers, representing 25% of annual ecommerce sales. But the peaks in web traffic that accompany Christmas time can overwhelm your infrastructure, leading to website or app crashes that lose you sales and damage your brand. Here are five essential tips to help make sure your website is prepared when Santa comes to town.

Apple Pay is now available in Germany. Apple launched the payment platform yesterday, and users are communicating their successful use of the platform on Twitter, adding their debit or credit card credentials to Apple Pay. In Germany, Apple Pay is supported by many banks.