Consumer behavior

Online spending in Turkey more than doubled last year, the Ministry of Commerce reports. Significant growth is expected again this year. This is largely the result of inflation, but there is also considerable autonomous growth.

At least 95.8 percent of European consumers shopped online in the first quarter of this year. In the United Kingdom, that percentage was 93 percent. And in the Netherland, 96 percent of consumers shopped online.

Marketplaces with origins in Asia have gained significant popularity in Germany over the past year. Recent research indicates that nine out of ten German consumers are familiar with these platforms, and 43 percent purchase items from them. Especially Temu is on the rise.

PayPal was the most used online payment method among German online shoppers in 2023, like the year before. However, the American company saw its share of the local payment market decrease. Buy now, pay later services are on the rise.

Almost 60 percent of consumers in Bosnia and Herzegovina made between two to five online purchases in the last three months. And 83.4 percent of all online purchases were made via mobile devices. These findings show a consumer confidence in online shopping and clear preference for mobile shopping.

As of this week, buying and selling second hand clothes is free of fees on eBay in the United Kingdom. By doing so, it wants to encourage more consumers to engage in recommerce, enabling a circular economy for fashion. It is also launching new features to make it easier to find pre-owned items.

Temu does not recognize itself in the criticism from German consumer organizations. They have accused the platform full of Chinese bargains of unfair trading practices. According to Temu, the company is unfairly portrayed in a bad light.

Consumers in Belgium spent 16.3 billion euros online last year. Compared to 2022, this is an increase of almost 11 percent. The strong growth was caused by an increase in sales of online services, like package holidays.

eBay has witnessed a significant increase in trade between German consumers on its platform. The number of sellers has grown by double-digit percentages, partly due to the elimination of selling costs. The company sees room for further growth.

Wish will offer European shoppers the opportunity to exchange used tech devices for money. To do this, Wish owner ContectLogic has entered into a partnership with refurbished goods provider Remarketed. The program will start in the Netherlands next month, followed by other European countries.

The amount of online shoppers in Europe decreased 1 percent in 2023. However, the amount of regular online shoppers has remained stable. And 7 out of 10 of these regular online shoppers were active on C2C platforms, where they bought or sold secondhand products.

Online product spending in Germany has experienced a double-digit decline for the first time last year. Expenditures amounted to 79.7 billion euros, a decrease of 11.8 percent compared to the 90.4 billion in 2022.

Online retailers are grappling with 'the biggest-ever wave of January returns', according to returns provider ZigZag. The percentages are much higher than a year ago, even though shoppers have to pay for returns more often.

Forrester anticipates significant growth in online retail spending in the largest European countries in the coming years. The American research firm expects an average annual growth of 9.2 percent.

In 2022, 74.8 percent of Belgian consumers shopped online. This is a higher share than the European average of 68 percent. While Belgians prefer shopping locally, when they do place cross-border orders, these are usually in other countries within the European Union.