European Ecommerce Report 2017- Romania achieved the highest annual ecommerce sales growth (38%)

European ecommerce turnover increased by 15% to €530 billion in 2016. For 2017, the European B2C ecommerce turnover is forecasted to reach around €602 billion, at a growth rate of nearly 14%, according to the European Ecommerce Report 2017. The report shows ecommerce trends, facts and figures, and offers insights into each of the European ecommerce markets. E-commerce in this report is seen as any B2C contract on the sale of products or services fully or partly concluded by a technique for distance communication.

Key trends identified in the report show that the proportion of companies with more than 10 employees having a website is continuously growing – from 67% of all retail companies in 2010 to 77% in 2016. Yet only 18% of them sell through their website.

However, the pace of this growth varies regionally across European markets. Western European countries continue to lead the way, as the largest market for ecommerce, with the UK topping the list with approximately 33% of the European online sales. In the mature ecommerce markets, the proportion of consumers shopping online is highest, 87% in the UK, 84% in Denmark and 82% in Germany for 2016. In contrast, the share of people shopping online are the lowest in Romania, Macedonia and Bulgaria.

Nonetheless, Central and Eastern European Countries achieved the highest ecommerce sales growth in 2016; in Romania sales increased by 38%, and the market in Slovakia and Estonia grew by 35%, Ukraine saw a growth of 31%, and Poland and Bulgaria grew by 25%. Ecommerce, combined with the EU Single Market, is an opportunity to sell and shop across border without travelling or setting up shop in another country. 33% of online shoppers purchased abroad in 2016, with Luxembourg, Russia and Switzerland topping the list of cross-border online purchases (each over 60%).

Online purchasing is more popular with the younger generation: two-thirds of 16-24 year olds purchase online frequently, in comparison to one-third of the 55-74 year olds. The report also reveals challenges still faced by consumers in their online shopping experience. The three main complaints include speed of delivery (17%), technical failures (13%) and damaged goods (9%).

Source: Ecommerce Europe