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.
Shein and Temu together sell around 3.3 billion euros worth of products in Germany, according to the German Retail Federation (HDE). One in five German consumers plans to make purchases from the Chinese platforms in the run-up to Christmas. “That is somewhat of a paradox”, says HDE director Stefan Genth.
In the third quarter of this year, more than half (53 percent) of all online orders in Denmark were completed on mobile phones. This was a strong increase compared to the same period last year, when 45 percent of Danes said that they used their mobile phone for online shopping.
Amazon may have to compensate German customers for the higher Prime subscription fees it unilaterally introduced three years ago. A regional consumer protection authority, which filed the lawsuit, wants Amazon to reverse the price increase and refund the difference to its customers.
Ecommerce continues to expand rapidly in Portugal. According to the 2025 E‑Shopper Barometer by Geopost, 75 percent of Portuguese consumers now buy online, and nearly half are considered regular online shoppers. Each Portuguese online shopper makes around 39 online purchases per year, a slight increase from 2023 but still below the European average of 49.
TikTok has launched Shop Local in the United Kingdom, a support scheme for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The competition promotes the sale of homegrown goods to British consumers, with packages to help local businesses set up and start selling on the platform.
Around 50 percent of online shoppers in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom have shopped at Temu or Shein this year. Compared to a year ago, the amount of shoppers using those platforms has not changed much. It seems that Temu’s and Shein’s growth in Europe has slowed down.
Large international online platforms have grown rapidly in the Netherlands in recent years. However, local players still dominate the market. According to the latest Twinkle100, AliExpress, Shein and Temu are not among the ten largest online retailers in the country. Far from it. Amazon has also taken a step back, in both turnover and ranking.
Amazon remains by far the largest online shop in Germany, ahead of local players Otto and Zalando. This is shown in a new top 1,000 ranking by retail institute EHI and ECDB. The combined revenue of the thousand top sellers was 3.8 percent higher last year compared to the year before. The top 10 grew the fastest. More growth is expected this year.
Only 14.77 of online shoppers return to an online store to place a second order. And even fewer customers become regular customers. Sellers should implement more well-timed measures to engage repeat customers, according to a recent study from Uptain.
Online consumer spending in Europe grew by 7 percent last year, reaching 819 billion euros. For this year, industry associations Ecommerce Europe and EuroCommerce expect another 7 percent growth. Online spending is growing particularly strongly in Eastern Europe.
In the first half of the year, consumers in the Netherlands spent more than 17 billion euros online. Compared to the same period last year, this represents a decline of 1 percent. Spending on services fell sharply, while spending on products increased slightly.
Most online sellers in Türkiye use only one marketplace to sell their products. This makes them highly dependent on the algorithms, pricing, and other conditions of that platform. Trendyol and Hepsiburada hold an enormous market power.
From February through July, Shein served an average of 145.7 million European shoppers per month. That is over 15.2 million more than in the previous six months. The Chinese online fashion platform is more popular in the European Union than Temu, although its growth is slightly less steep.
In the first half of this year, Temu attracted an average of 115.7 million Europeans to its platform each month. That’s 12.9 million more than in the second half of last year. Remarkably, the growth in Temu’s top European markets was above average.
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.