Same European markets continue to dominate

E-commerce in Europe has grown during the past year. In the countries surveyed (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom), average online purchases per person and month were EUR 161. More people are choosing to make larger e-commerce purchases compared to before the pandemic, and consumers are buying a wider range of different product categories. As in previous years, Germany and the UK are the largest e-commerce markets in Europe. The survey shows that 62 million consumers in Germany have shopped online in the last year, while the corresponding figure for the UK is 49 million.

Pandemic-driven growth in e-commerce – will it last?

It’s clear that the corona pandemic has caused e-commerce to grow in most European markets, but will this situation last? In this year’s survey we asked consumers if they planned to increase or decrease their online shopping after the pandemic. A majority in Italy, Poland, and Spain believe that they will increase their online shopping, while the opposite is the case in Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Majority of European consumers make purchases with mobile phones

E- commerce on mobile phones has gone from being a niche phenomenon to becoming mainstream. The differences between European countries in mobile usage have leveled out, with all countries in the survey reporting that more than 70% of respondents use their mobile phone or tablet for e-commerce purchases.