Cross-border ecommerce in the Nordics grows steadily

Cross-border ecommerce is growing steadily in the Nordic countries. Especially online stores in Sweden are popular among other Scandinavians. Norwegian consumers shop the most at foreign online stores. Ten percent of all Norwegians shop at Swedish ecommerce sites at some point every quarter.

This can be concluded after reading the latest study from PostNord, called “E-handeln i Norden 2015“. This study also reveals that online shoppers in the Nordics bought goods with a total value of 15.4 billion euros in 2014. The Swedes accounted for just under 40% of this amount, but per capita it’s the Norwegians who shop online the most. On average, the Norwegian consumer spent 1034 euros online in 2014, followed by consumers in Sweden (€839), Denmark (€768) and Finland (€594). The ecommerce industry in the Nordic countries is growing at approximately 15 percent per year.

Differences in Scandinavia
As an outsider you might think consumers in these Nordic countries are more or less the same, when it comes to shopping habits and consumer needs. But there are clearly some differences. In Denmark for example, consumers think faster delivery is more important than in the other countries. And in Sweden it’s much more common for consumers to do some research in physical stores before ordering products online. But also the opposite, called webrooming, is much more common in Sweden than in other countries from this European region.

Arne Andersson, ecommerce expert at PostNord, says that Swedish retail has come further in terms of digitization than its neighboring countries. “In general, Swedish companies are much better at combining the physical and digital stores. Swedes also love to shop at their own, domestic retailers, while Swedish online retailers are also very popular among other Scandinavians”.

Norway and cross-border ecommerce
When it comes to cross-border ecommerce, the Norwegians are the absolute champions. Per inhabitant, they shop abroad for over 327 euros and most of this money goes to Sweden. As a matter of fact, ten percent of all Norwegians buys something at a Swedish online retailer each quarter. According to Andersson Norwegians love to shop online in Sweden, because the product range is wider there and also, the prices are often lower. “Plus, the Norwegians often haver experience with buying at physical stores in Sweden, so they already have some knowledge of Swedish stores.”

The report from PostNord also shows that consumers in Finland are not as active in ecommerce as the consumers from other Nordic countries are. This is mainly due to a limited domestic supply. Sp when it comes to shopping online abroad, on average Finns spend more than consumers in Sweden and Denmark.