The European online retail sector will grow steadily in 2019 and register around a 14% year-on-year increase in turnover, to €621 billion, the European B2C E-commerce Report 2019 by Ecommerce Europe and EuroCommerce has revealed.
The online retail industry saw turnover increasing by 11.87%, to €547 billion, in 2018.
Regional Trends
In 2018, Western Europe emerged as the largest e-commerce market in Europe, generating 66% of the total online retail turnover on the continent, amounting to €363 billion.
Southern Europe generated 14% (€78 billion) of the turnover, while Northern Europe generated 9% (€49 billion).
The highest spending per e-shopper, amounting to €2,046, was seen in Northern Europe.
Online Shopping Trends
The highest online shopping rate of 88% was observed in Switzerland, followed by the UK (87%) and Denmark (86%).
Online shopping rates were the lowest in Bulgaria (31%), Romania (26%) and Ukraine (22%).
In terms of cross-border purchases, 89% of Maltese e-shoppers were likely to order from another EU seller, followed by Cyprus (83%) and Luxembourg (82%).
The Challenges
The report also pointed out the challenges and factors that discourage European customers from shopping online.
These include the speed of delivery, trust concerns about receiving and returning goods, complaints and redressals, and payment security.
Speed of delivery emerged as the main roadblock for customers in Montenegro (22%), Hungary (12%) and Turkey (10%), while payment security concerns were strong in Portugal (29%) and Turkey (25%).
The director general of EuroCommerce, Christian Verschueren, commented, “What is clear is that Europe, as a whole, needs to catch up with the massive progress being made in digital tech and in online commerce in other regions in the world, most notably China and the US.
“This is a message for business, but also for regulators and policymakers. We will continue to press for the right conditions for growth in all channels of sales, so that they help European retail to innovate and compete globally,” Verschueren added.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
