We share lots of articles containing hard statistics about ecommerce in Europe, but sometimes these are just numbers. Sometimes it can be more interesting to know more about the consumers driving these statistics. On this page you’ll find article we’ve written about online consumer behavior in Europe.
Half of European consumers shop in secret. The main reasons for stealth shopping are embarrassment and a wish to avoid arguments at home. Six out of ten secret shoppers hide their purchases from a romantic partner. Parents are the second most common group left in the dark, especially in Italy where many young adults live with their parents until around age 30. In other EU countries the average leaving age is 26, in Germany even 24.
ECDB presents a new ranking of the Dutch ecommerce market, based on gross merchandise value per domain name. The top 10 includes four Dutch and three Chinese players. What is striking is that the latter are growing much faster. We were given a preview.
Last year, online fashion sales decreased 7 percent in Switzerland, compared to 2023. The total online revenue for fashion came to around 2.4 billion euros in the country. The online share of the fashion market in Switzerland was around 30 percent.
Compared to other German-speaking countries, Swiss consumers shop online less frequently. Just 18 percent of them shop online at least once a week. In Germany, for example, that share comes to 28 percent.
Chinese online marketplace Temu is gaining ground in France. For the first time, it has entered the top 15 of the biggest fashion sellers in the country, in terms of unit volume. It is just behind Zara. Vinted is still in first place.
According to the German government, cancelling an online purchase should be as easy as placing an order. The Ministry of Justice has announced a cancellation button for online purchases of goods, services, and financial products. The perpetual right of withdrawal is being abolished.
Online revenue in Spain has increased 13.1 percent year-over-year in 2024. The total online revenue came to 95.2 billion euros. In the last quarter of the year specifically, online turnover increased 13.4 percent compared to a year earlier.
“The upswing is here”, writes bevh above a report on online retail spending in Germany. According to the industry association, consumers spent 39.84 billion euros on products online in the first half of this year. This marks a 3.5 percent increase compared to the same period last year. The growth was even stronger in the second quarter.
Smaller online businesses in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland are not benefiting from the restored growth in online spending. On the contrary, their revenue is decreasing. “It is becoming increasingly difficult for smaller online stores to maintain their position in the market.”
Compared to other European countries, the Netherlands has the highest share of online shoppers. In the last quarter of 2024, at least 86.7 percent of Dutch consumers bought something online. It means that hundreds of thousands started online shopping last year.
Buying second-hand products online has become common in Germany: 55 percent of consumers bought a used product online last year. Additionally, most Germans are active sellers of used products: 52 percent offered something for sale, mainly fashion, books, and electronics.
Between 2023 and last year, Zalando’s online sales revenue in Switzerland has increased slightly. It remains the biggest online retailer in the country. With its current online growth, it is expected that Galaxus will take over first place during this year.
For the first time in years, Dutch online spending on products is on the rise again. In the first quarter of this year, consumers spent more than 9 billion euros online. This is an increase of 4 percent, which was driven by the increased online spending on products.
In the first two months after its launch, German consumers have not embraced TikTok Shop in large numbers. TikTok Shop is known by one in three consumers, but only one in forty Germans has made a purchase, according to research by media agency OMD.
Temu has now been active in Europe for two years. According to a recent survey by the Chinese marketplace, German customers said that they have average saving of 27 percent on purchases they placed on Temu in 2024. And 41 percent wonder why identical products cost more on other platforms.