Ecommerce growth set to continue in 2020
Press release - Competitiveness & Single Market
8 July 2020
Ecommerce Europe and EuroCommerce today jointly launched the European Ecommerce Regional Report 2020. Growth in ecommerce sales reached €636 billion in 2019, up by 14.2% from the previous year. European ecommerce turnover is forecast to grow at around 12.7% and to hit €717 billion in 2020. The full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sector will, however, only show next year.
This report comes out at a time of uncertainty all over the world. The COVID-19 outbreak, and the restrictions it has led to, have had a major impact on business and consumer confidence. While physical shops have maintained supplies of essentials, ecommerce has played a crucial role in maintaining economic activity in Europe. Retailers of all sizes have accelerated their digital transformation, further developing existing and new omnichannel commerce solutions.
Luca Cassetti, Secretary General of Ecommerce Europe, commented: “We are very proud of the resilience our sector has shown these last months and are delighted to see that the ecommerce industry has been successfully contributing to keeping the Single Market open. While the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the strength of the digital commerce sector, it has also exposed the challenges online merchants still come across. Given the increasing cross-border nature of ecommerce, European businesses have struggled to implement new solutions across the Union due to regulatory fragmentation and diverging national approaches towards the crisis. In light of the current acceleration of the digital and green policy agendas, we need to step up our ambitions for building a stronger European Union with a truly harmonized Single Market.”
Christian Verschueren, Director-General of EuroCommerce, commented: “The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the pace of digital change in retail and wholesale. This trend will continue, and to gather further speed. People are now used to buying online, and will continue to do so. Our members are responding to this, but with difficult months - and probably years - ahead, we need urgent help nationally and at EU level to boost resilience and accelerate our sector’s digital transformation.”
The Ecommerce Regional Report 2020 sets out the main facts and figures related to the ecommerce sector in Europe, with country-by-country and sectorial analysis, interviews with heads of leading national ecommerce associations and other valuable information for merchants, policymakers and other stakeholders. Ecommerce Europe and EuroCommerce would like to thank the research institute RetailX for preparing and finalising this report and all the sponsors for their support.
To obtain the full version of the report, please visit this website.
NOTES FOR EDITORS
The 2020 report shows that Western Europe is still the most developed ecommerce market in Europe with 70% market share of the total B2C online turnover and the highest number of e-shoppers (83%), followed by Southern Europe with a 15% market share of the total B2C online turnover and the highest e-GDP (7.69%). Northern Europe (7%), Central Europe (6%) and Eastern Europe (1%) have the lowest market shares.
Other key trends identified in the report show that in 2019, the top three countries showing the most significant B2C ecommerce turnover growth were Romania (30%), Bulgaria (30%) and Spain (29%). Belgium (7%), Ireland (7%), Austria (4%) and Iceland (3%) showed the least growth in ecommerce turnover in the last year. Furthermore, the findings show that the country with the highest percentage of e-shoppers (94%) in 2019 is the United Kingdom, followed by Denmark (86%) and Germany, The Netherlands and Sweden (all at 84%). The lowest percentages for online shopping were registered in 2019 in Bulgaria (31%) and Romania (29%). In terms of national and cross-border purchases, shoppers in The Netherlands (95%) and Poland (94%) mostly bought from national sellers, while Maltese (96%) and Cypriot (95%) e-shoppers are most likely to order cross-border (both from within the EU and non-EU).
Finally, the report includes interviews with leading national ecommerce associations, providing qualitative insights into the national ecommerce markets.