Ecommerce in Europe: €717 billion in 2020. Strong growth in Romania and Bulgaria two countries with the lowest share of online shoppers (respectively 31 and 29 percent)

Ecommerce in Europe is expected to be worth 717 billion euros at the end of 2020, according to ecommercenews.eu. That would mean an increase of 12.7 percent compared to the situation last year. This growth is somewhat lower than the 14.2 percent increase of the European ecommerce in 2019.

One might think that the covid-19 outbreak has led to a run on online shopping across Europe. But according to Ecommerce Europe, the full impact of the virus will be visible next year.

Western Europe most developed ecommerce market

The Europe 2020: Ecommerce Region Report shows that Western Europe is still the most developed ecommerce market in Europe. This region accounts for 70 percent of the total ecommerce value in Europe. Western Europe also has the highest share of online shoppers (83 percent).

Western Europe has the highest share of online shoppers.

Strong growth in Romania and Bulgaria

The biggest growth, however, can be found in the eastern part of Europe. The ecommerce markets in Romania and Bulgaria both increased by 30 percent last year, which is the highest growth number in all of Europe. These are however also the two countries with the lowest share of online shoppers (respectively 31 and 29 percent).

Spain also shows a nice market development with a 29 percent increase last year. The lowest growth can be found in Belgium (7 percent), Ireland (7 percent), Austria (4 percent) and Iceland (3 percent).

The report also shows that the United Kingdom has the highest share of online shoppers (94 percent). Other countries in this list are Denmark (86 percent), Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden (all 84 percent).

The Dutch like to order from Dutch online shops

The Ecommerce Region Report also analyzed the popularity of national and foreign online stores among shoppers. In the Netherlands, consumers really prefer shopping at domestic websites (95 percent), a trend that’s also noticeable in Poland (94 percent). In the small countries of Malta and Cyprus, online shoppers mostly (96 and 95 percent) shop at foreign ecommerce websites.