Electronic commerce in Europe has reached 757,000 million euros in 2020, increasing only 10% compared to 2019 (690,000 million euros), as they have collected in the report of Ecommerce Europe and EuroCommerce.
Although we have lived a year in which the most repeated phrase was “e-commerce has grown in only one year what it would in ten“It is a bit strange to see that the growth results have been only 10%. According to the report, the sharp decline in online sales in the tourism and services sector, such as events, tickets, etc., have been some of the reasons why eCommerce has not grown as much as expected.
The past year has highlighted the importance of digital transformation. E-commerce has proven to be exceptionally well placed to facilitate the digitization of retail and create a seamless shopping experience for consumers
Luca Cassetti, Secretary General of Ecommerce Europe
More information about eCommerce in Europe
In 2020, the European Union of 28 countries became the EU-27, as the United Kingdom ended its long-disputed exit. Although the UK has always been a powerhouse in the Union’s e-commerce landscape, the growth and progress of the other European countries has not stalled. In fact, 89% of the EU-27 population accessed the internet, and 73% bought online (compared to 68% in 2019).
Logistics
In the last decade, the number of delivery options offered from virtual stores has steadily increased, especially in Europe. In addition to home delivery, 61% of electronic stores in the EU-27 already offer the possibility of picking up an online order in the company’s own store, and 56% of electronic stores give the option of delivering orders to logistics service collection points. The use of collection points is highest among web stores with more than 200 million visitors per year (89%), followed by web stores with between 50 and 200 million visitors (76%), and the lowest among web stores with less than 500 million visitors (27%).
Focusing on the retail sectors, the results show that the option to collect orders online in the store or at the point of sale is the lowest among the electronic stores that sell in the category of fashion, shoes and accessories (37%) , and the highest among electronic stores that sell in the category of electronics and books, music, movies and video games (both with 76%). Virtual stores that sell general products are the most prone to delivery, while online stores of food products and alcoholic beverages for groceries, (alcoholic) beverages and pet supplies are the least.
Social networks
Almost all European web stores display their social channels on their website (93%). Among all the online stores in the EU-27, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube are the most popular social media channels. The least used social media platforms are Tumblr, Snapchat, and TikTok. Interestingly, e-shops with more than 200 million visitors a year are less likely to display their social media accounts on the website (78%) compared to smaller e-shops (94%).
Compared to other EU-27 regions, the results show that e-shops in Northern Europe have fewer Pinterest (8%), YouTube (55%) and Instagram (69%) on their website. Additionally, Twitter is much more popular with e-shops in Western Europe (71%) and Southern Europe (53%), compared to Northern Europe (24%) and Eastern (24%) and Eastern Europe. (26%). Focusing on the different types of retailers, stores use Instagram (81%) and YouTube (72%) more often than eCommerce without physical presence (67% and 52%, respectively). However, marketplaces use Twitter (54%) and Pinterest (30%) more frequently than retailers (39% and 18%, respectively).