The European E-commerce Report — Marketplaces, Commerce and Strategies
Not that long ago, we were provided with the newest edition of the European E-commerce report. The document created in cooperation with Euro Commerce is always a good source of information for those of companies that wish to start cross-border trading in Europe.
The report starts with a very good information: the European turnover increased by 12.75% (to €540) in 2017. The increase is especially good news taking into account different challenges to face when selling cross-border in Europe. Luckily, the growth in Europe remains at double figures as people decide to buy more and more products through the Internet.
European markets
Europe, the Old Continent, includes a number of countries, the majority of which have become the members of the European Union. Its population in 2018 has risen to 811.7 millions of people. However, this is the Eastern Europe (including Russia) that consist of the most of people (29% of total population). The majority of elderly people resides the territories of Northern and Southern Europe (18.34 and 17.12%). Europe’s GDP is now € 17 trillion and growing, whereas the unemployment rate is dropping.
Main players
56% of total European marketplaces belongs to top global companies: Aliexpress, eBay and Amazon. The first one is the most popular in the Netherlands and Russia. eBay leads in Cyprus, Amazon- in Luxembourg and Austria. However, only Amazon and Alibaba Group develop their strategies. Amazon has decided to take advantage of global markets by buying up small companies. In comparison to Alibaba Group, it has acquired five times more companies. On the other hand, Alibaba Group implements its goals through logistics and subsidiaries.
Amazon is said to have a strong presence in Europe. The company has operations in five European countries, namely the United Kingdom, Spain, France, the Netherlands and Germany, from where it sells its products to the whole region. Thanks to the cooperation with DHL and Goodman, it was possible to enhance logistical infrastructure. For this reason, Amazon became a leading online retailer in Europe in 2017.
Online orders and challenges
Western Europe is said to be the biggest market for e-commerce. Such countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain have an advanced infrastructure, high internet use and consumer comfort rates, which makes them healthy e-commerce markets. Moreover, the United Kingdom has been found among the top 10 countries with the biggest Internet penetration (with Sweden, Switzerland and Iceland in the top 3) and has had the highest E-GDP. These states have also the biggest percentage of Internet users who used the net at least one in the last 12 months (on average more than 90%) and a high percentage of those who bought a product or service within the last 12 months (above 80%, on average).
We should not forget about the rest of the continent. Northern Europe’s growth rate is expected to increase in 2018 to 11.8% (from 7.6%). However, the biggest developing part of Europe is its southern part with Romania — the country that experienced the highest e-commerce growth in 2017. Similarly, Macedonia (together with Portugal) indicated the most of cross-border e-purchases, whereas Slovenia had the highest cross-border e-purchase growth rate. In the whole Europe, 38% of ordered goods or services came from abroad.
However, cross-selling online shopping still needs to face some challenges. The problems that have been enlisted in the report are as follows: speed of delivery longer than indicated, wrong or damaged goods deliveries, fraud problems, complains or redress were difficult or without satisfactory response after placing a complaint or technical problems. What is more, among the issues indicated there, one could find also persons indicating difficulties in finding information on guarantees and other legal rights. A separate problem showed the lack of possibility of selling a product to a particular country.
Who are the people who usually shop online in Europe?
The majority of online buyers are persons between 25 and 54 years old. Among them, these are students and highly educated people who prefer to order online more regularly. The biggest group of online purchasers are within high formal education respondents, whereas students hold second place. The unemployed are the people who purchase online the least, however, the percentage of their online orders has grown from 46% in 2014 to 52% in 2017.
The industries whose products and services most often purchased through the internet are as follows: medicine, travel and accommodation, tickets and events, electronic equipment, media and computer software, household goods, groceries and food products, clothes and sports goods.
The process of changes on the European markets is ongoing. There are new technologies available and the amount of customers who want to make their orders is increasing. Even though there are still challenges for e-commerce, cross-border selling is gaining importance.
Full report can be download here: https://www.ecommerce-europe.eu/research/ecommerce-europe-reports/
