With the E-barometern report – PostNord, in cooperation with the Swedish Digital Trade Association and HUI Research – monitors and analyzes e-commerce development in the Swedish retail industry. The e-barometer is published quarterly and is based on five consumer surveys and one survey with e-retailers.

The full year report for 2022 has been released, and for the first time since 2006 – the first publication year of the e-barometer – the report shows negative growth for Swedish e-commerce of minus 7 %.

What was supposed to be a year of recovery instead became the beginning of a new period of hardships: war, inflation, and recession in Europe.

Of the nine product categories included in the study, only two, fashion and footwear, and pharmacy products showed a small growth during 2022.

What can we expect from the e-commerce year 2023?

The near future is, to say the least, difficult to predict. It will be greatly affected by macro-economic factors, which of course include international conflicts, inflation and cost of living. However, the report has identified a couple of clear trends regarding the behavior of Swedish e-commerce consumers.

The first is that social e-commerce is growing strongly. To browse and shop directly is becoming increasingly common. To understand the potential size of social e-commerce one can look at the e-commerce market in the United States, which often influences the Swedish market. In the US, social commerce today makes up about four percent of all e-commerce sales. As the purchase channels consumer prefer to use change, opportunities are naturally created for new players to step in.

The second is that it’s becoming increasingly clear that influencer marketing is becoming more and more important for building brands. At the same time, a discussion is emerging about how profitable this strategy actually is, and that it can be difficult to measure the actual outcome. From company’s perspective, the main value of collaborating with influencers is that it strengthens the brand. 37 percent of the surveyed e-commerce companies agree on this.

Order your free copy of the E-barometern 2022 report.

Olof Källgren, Market Information Manager, Direct Link