The artificial intelligence landscape is witnessing a new wave of innovation, and DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup, has emerged as a key player with its latest model, DeepSeek-R1. Unlike many proprietary AI models controlled by tech giants, DeepSeek-R1 is open-source, making it freely accessible to developers, researchers, and businesses worldwide. Its performance in complex reasoning tasks, particularly in coding and mathematics, has placed it among the most competitive AI models currently available. As the model gains traction, discussions surrounding its potential, efficiency, and ethical considerations have intensified.

Cutting-Edge Efficiency and Performance

DeepSeek-R1 stands out not only for its accessibility but also for its efficiency. While many leading AI models require extensive computational resources, DeepSeek-R1 has been designed to achieve high-level performance with optimized resource usage. By implementing advanced training techniques and an innovative architectural structure, the model can deliver superior results with lower computational costs. This makes it a valuable tool for organizations seeking powerful AI capabilities without the financial burden of large-scale infrastructure.

DeepSeek’s decision to make its model open-source has had a significant impact on the AI industry. It challenges the dominance of proprietary AI models and encourages greater transparency and collaboration within the AI research community. The model’s availability allows a broader range of industries and individuals to integrate AI into their work, fueling innovation across multiple sectors. In response, established AI companies may need to rethink their strategies to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.

Despite its strengths, DeepSeek-R1 has also sparked concerns regarding data sourcing and ethical AI development. Some industry experts question whether the model has been trained on proprietary or copyrighted data without clear authorization. Additionally, the open-source nature of the model raises regulatory challenges, as advanced AI technology can be used for both positive and potentially harmful applications. As AI governance continues to evolve, the conversation around responsible AI development and usage remains critical.

DeepSeek-R1 represents a significant shift in the AI ecosystem. By prioritizing accessibility, efficiency, and innovation, DeepSeek is positioning itself as a formidable force in the industry. However, as with any disruptive technology, its rise brings both opportunities and challenges. The coming years will determine how the AI industry adapts to the increasing prominence of open-source models, and whether DeepSeek-R1 will serve as a model for future AI developments or face regulatory hurdles that could impact its widespread adoption.

The International Casinos Exhibition (ICE) has arrived in Barcelona for the first time, taking place at Fira Barcelona Gran Via from January 20 to 22, 2025. Known as a premier event in the gaming and betting sectors, ICE has transitioned from its long-time base in London to the vibrant city of Barcelona. This year’s event has brought together over 55,000 professionals from 170 countries, along with more than 600 exhibitors and delegates from 200 regulatory organizations.

Covering a massive 120,000 square meters across six exhibition halls, ICE Barcelona highlights cutting-edge innovations in gaming technology. Attendees have the chance to explore developments in virtual reality, esports, and online gaming, alongside new payment solutions and industry-specific technologies. Accompanying the exhibition are thought-provoking conferences and workshops focusing on regulatory updates, responsible gambling practices, and emerging trends shaping the future of the industry.

This year’s ICE features a variety of new initiatives aimed at fostering collaboration and innovation. The ICE Association Assembly facilitates dialogue among trade bodies, creating opportunities across global markets. The rebranded World Gaming Forum addresses critical issues such as technological advancements and policy shifts. Additionally, the Sustainable Gambling Zone, supported by major players like Flutter Entertainment, emphasizes the industry’s commitment to environmentally and socially responsible practices.

While the event avoids large-scale advertising due to the nature of the gaming industry, its economic impact on Barcelona is substantial. Hotels, restaurants, and other businesses in the city have seen a surge in activity, thanks to the influx of attendees. Experts estimate that ICE 2025 will generate around 300 million euros for the local economy, making it not only a pivotal moment for the gaming industry but also a boon for Barcelona’s business and tourism sectors.

When it comes to cybersecurity in 2025, artificial intelligence (AI) is top of mind for many analysts and professionals. The increasing complexity and scale of cyber threats have made traditional security measures insufficient, driving the adoption of AI-driven solutions across industries. AI is being leveraged to detect, predict, and respond to cyberattacks with unprecedented speed and accuracy.

On the defensive side, AI-powered systems can analyze vast amounts of data in real time, identifying patterns that may indicate a breach or malicious activity. Machine learning algorithms are being used to enhance threat detection by adapting to new and evolving tactics used by cybercriminals. For example, AI can detect anomalies in network traffic or user behavior that might signal an attempted intrusion.

Proactively, AI is also shaping the offensive cybersecurity landscape. Ethical hackers and security professionals are employing AI to simulate sophisticated attacks, testing the resilience of their defenses against cutting-edge methods such as AI-generated phishing campaigns or deepfake-enabled social engineering.

However, AI itself is not without risks. Cybercriminals are increasingly using AI to develop smarter malware, automate large-scale attacks, and outpace traditional security measures. This arms race between attackers and defenders underscores the need for robust governance, ethical considerations, and ongoing innovation in cybersecurity technologies.

Looking ahead, the integration of AI into cybersecurity strategies will likely be a defining trend in 2025 and beyond. Key areas of focus include strengthening AI algorithms against adversarial attacks, improving collaboration between public and private sectors, and addressing privacy concerns to maintain trust in AI-powered systems. As cyber threats grow more sophisticated, AI will continue to play a central role in safeguarding digital ecosystems worldwide.

Amazon is now warning sellers that it cannot accept all shipments because it is currently having capacity problems in its logistics centers in Europe. This means that sellers in their turn may face failures delivering their goods to the market by the holidays.

The ecommerce giant announced its bottlenecks in logistics on its SellerCentral. As Amazon’s logistics center have reached capacity, the company said that there can be delays in booking merchant’s inventories.

The capacity problems affect Amazon’s logistics centers in several countries such as Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the Czech Republic and Poland. “If we are unable to accept your shipment, we will arrange the next available appointment directly with your carrier. We know how important the receipt of your inventory is for the holiday season and are working to resolve these capacity bottlenecks as quickly as possible”, said the marketplace.

The ecommerce giant was already expecting bottlenecks during the busiest ecommerce season. In July, Amazon already advised sellers to send inventory for the holiday season to logistics centers by August and September so that it could focus on processing customer orders during November and December.

And in October, the marketplace also announced a temporary extension of the deadline for returning goods to customers. This would give consumers more time to return goods, which means that it would increase the flow of returned goods to logistics centers.

In Germany, Amazon has already suspended incoming deliveries from DHL. In this regard, the carrier now returns the affected parcels to the sellers until further notice. According to their own words, Amazon and DHL are currently working on a solution to the problem.

Forty-nine per cent of the thousand largest European online sellers in Europe have their headquarters in Europe. Thus, more than a half of them are based elsewhere, primarily in the United States or China. The traffic share of these non-European companies in the top thousand is even larger, 74 per cent.

This is reported by Internet Retailing, based on data from RetailX. It is the first time the headquarters of Europe’s largest online sellers have been analyzed.

These figures include Amazon and eBay, which dominate the marketplace landscape in the region and globally. But they also point to the increasing power and reach of companies like Shein, Alibaba, and Temu, which have captured a significant share of sales in the region in a short period.

However, unlike traffic share, the report does not highlight the total revenue share of non-European companies.

In an affiliated report, ChannelX examines the dominant role of online marketplaces in European ecommerce, noting that many consumers effectively use them as search engines for retail.

According to the researchers, there are approximately 400 D2C marketplaces operating across Europe, along with more than 250 B2B platforms.

Internet Retailing highlights both the emergence of specialized vertical marketplaces from new entrants and the marketplace initiatives of established (online) retailers.

The latest quarterly report from Statistics Netherlands shows that there are more than 100,000 online stores in the country. At least this number of companies have online sales as their main activity, but the number is increasing.

The amount of online stores with a broad product range increased 14 percent last year.

Three months earlier, in the quarterly update from July, the statistics agency counted 97,905 companies in the same category. This is a difference of 2,085. That means that since this summer, around 700 new online stores were started every month in the Netherlands.

The amount of companies that have online sales as their main activity has more than doubled compared to five years ago. At the end of 2019, Statistics Netherlands counted 46,430 companies in the category. Since the beginning of last year, the country has more online stores than brick-and-mortar stores.

An interesting fact is that total spending in recent years did not grow along with the number of businesses. Online ecommerce sales increased by 1 percent, according to the latest Market Monitor by ecommerce association Thuiswinkel.org. In short, people spent the same amount of money on products while the amount of online stores did increase.

During the corona era, when online spending increased dramatically, the number of online stores grew rapidly, with 2021 being the record year. Although the growth rate slowed down after the pandemic, new ecommerce companies kept coming in. To be exact, the difference between now and five years ago is 115 percent.

In their report, Statistics Netherlands counts companies operating under SBI code 4791, or companies that primarily sell products over distance. This includes mail order companies and teleshopping providers, but their number is so low that Statistics Netherlands simply refers to all companies as ‘online stores’.

The Dutch Chamber of Commerce, though, counts 109,323 companies in the internet retailing category. An important difference is that Statistics Netherlands classifies companies by main activity or industry (the SBI classification), while the Chamber of Commerce includes both main and secondary branches of a company in the Trade Register.

According to Statistics Netherlands, last month there were 22,985 online stores selling clothing, or 23 percent of the total number of businesses. This makes clothing the most popular category, followed by online shops selling a general assortment (20,325 companies, or 20.3 percent) and online stores selling home and garden items (18,250, or 18.3 percent).

This year, the number of online shops with a general assortment grew the most in both absolute and relative terms. Indeed, 2,465 entrepreneurs were added since the measurement in the first quarter. This is an increase of 14 percent.

EBay has changed its cancellation policy rules giving shoppers more flexibility to cancel their purchases. From now on, they can cancel an order as long as the seller has not marked it as shipped. The company describes this as a simplification and benefit for both shoppers and sellers.

The new policy will take effect on August 28. EBay has informed its sales partners in countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, and France. When customers press the ‘Cancel order’ button, they can retract their purchase, and the seller will be notified. The seller then has three days to accept or decline the request. The company says that on paid orders, eBay will automatically decline the request after three days, but it encourages sellers to respond quickly.

EBay also encourages sellers to be sympathetic towards cancellation requests. When possible, it’s recommended they accept the request, especially if it is sent within minutes or a few hours of when an order is placed. Doing so has shown to discourage return requests or ‘item not received’ cases and encourages the buyer to return to eBay for their next purchase.

On acceptance, eBay promises to automatically issue a full refund to the buyer and fee credits to sellers in accordance with their fee credits policy.

EBay buyers used to only have one hour to cancel an order after placing it. The company, which continues to implement improvements for both commercial and private sellers, justifies the policy change with the results of the tests conducted. These tests show that the number of cancellation requests increases only slightly with the introduction of the new policy – from 0.9 to 1.1 requests per 100 transactions. According to eBay, this is offset by a 25% increase in customer satisfaction.

EBay also promises to protect sellers who decline a cancellation request by removing negative or neutral feedback on these orders.

The environmental impact of retail, the online sales of clothing in particular, seems to be consistently underestimated. Between 22 to 44 percent of all returned clothing is never sold to a secondary consumer. These unused returned items have a big impact on the environment.

These data come from research conducted by the Ben-Gurion University. According to them, while most people are aware of the environmental impacts of fashion, there is still not a lot of research on Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions on returns.

Returns are a commonly known problem in ecommerce, for online retailers. Previous research already showed that sellers in the DACH region have to deal with high costs per returned order. To discourage returns, many sellers have implemented return fees.

However, many consumers still do not understand the negative repercussions of returns. Over-ordering (ordering one item in several colors or sizes) in fashion is common practice, normalized by programs such as Amazon’s ‘Try before you buy’. As a result, 20 to 30 percent of items ordered online are returned.

The researchers point out that many consumers see the option of returning as a key factor in their purchasing decisions, few of them seem to know that returned items do not necessarily end up back on the shelves.

When items are returned, sellers need to complete a complex process of sorting, checking and often cleaning, repairing and repackaging the product. The costs of this process are often higher than the retail value. Since many returns can only be sold at a discount, some items are thrown away or destroyed without ever being used.

Based on a data set of 630,000 returned clothing items in Europe, 44 percent never reach a second consumer. Half of them are recycled, a quarter end up in landfills and a seventh are incinerated. The rest end up lost somewhere along the way.

According to the research, these unused products that are discarded have a very big impact on the environment. The GHG emissions that are associated with the production and distribution of these items are 2 to 16 times higher than all post-return transport, packaging and processing emissions combined.

The European Parliament aims to simplify VAT rules for ecommerce imports and wants to remove the threshold of 150 euros for import duties. Negotiations are still going on, but it has now been decided that the proposed changes will come into effect by March 2028.

It is a well-known fact that the European Commission wants to impose import duties on goods up to 150 euros. In May 2023, this proposal was first published. Since then, the process of getting it adopted by the European Council has been under way.

When importing a product from outside the European Union, purchased from an American or Chinese online seller, for example, a person is required to pay import duties. However, currently orders up to 150 euros are exempted from this obligation.

Many sellers on AliExpress and Temu take advantage of this as with their low product prices they do not need to pay import duties. As a result, hundreds of thousands of shipments from these sellers overload the air transportation market.

According to a study by the European Parliamentary Research Service, the current threshold gives traders an incentive to under-value their goods. They are falsely valuing their goods below the threshold, leading to lower VAT charges and evading customs duties.

Removing the threshold of 150 euros would mean that all imported goods will need to go through the IOSS (import one-stop shop) of the EU. This will lead to lower compliance costs. Additionally, it will reduce an administrative burden for businesses within the EU and make it easier for online stores in the EU to sell imported goods into the EU.

Negotiations are continuing in the European Council. The European Parliament has already voted in favor. The changes should come into effect by 1 March 2028.

Ecommerce in Spain amounted to over 84 billion euros last year, marking a 16.3 percent growth compared to 2022.

Most digital trade transactions were international. In the last quarter, Spaniards spent abroad nearly 60 percent of their money that was spent online, according to CNMC (Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia), the national market and competition authority in Spain. To promote commerce, the organization also conducts market analyses, among other activities.

CNMC uses a broad definition of ecommerce in Spain. Within this, travel agencies and tour operators constitute the largest sector accounting for 8.5 percent of all electronic commerce in the fourth quarter of 2023. Clothing follows with a share of 7.3 percent amounting to about 6 billion euros annually, while air transport takes the third spot with a 5.5 percent share.

Gambling is the leader in terms of the number of digital purchases. In the last quarter of last year, this figure amounted to 432 million transactions, which means an increase of more than 15 percent.

In that last quarter of 2023, only 40.1 percent of the digital transaction value remained in Spain. The remaining 59.9 percent flowed to foreign entities. This amounts to 13.6 billion euros in three months, most of which was spent at sellers in other EU countries. Spanish consumers especially favor online stores from other member states for their clothing purchases.

The cross-border share of Spanish online transactions is growing – plus 19 per cent.

Meanwhile, Spanish online merchants are also increasingly earning revenue from foreign customers, but the volumes are small. Far more euros flow out of Spain to other countries than vice versa.

Amazon is the largest player in the Spanish digital market. It just recorded a gross annual revenue of 7.1 billion euros last year thanks to its activities in the country.