Ecommerce in Denmark

As in most other Nordic countries, online shopping has become common practice in Denmark. The ecommerce market is expected to continue growing, reaching 17 billion euros by 2028. A majority of consumers in Denmark place orders at online stores in another country.

Content:

• Ecommerce customers in Denmark
• The ecommerce market
• Big online stores
• Ecommerce events
• Latest ecommerce news from or about Denmark

Statistics

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Ecommerce customers in Denmark

There are over 5.9 million inhabitants in Denmark. According to a report from PostNord from 2024, up to 83 percent of Danish consumers shop online at least monthly. This is an increase compared to 2019, when that share was still 62 percent.

There are differences in shopping behavior when comparing consumers in different age groups. Both 18 to 29-year-olds and 30 to 49-year-olds often shop online at least once week (42 percent). In the age group of 65 to 79-year-olds, that prevalence is much lower (15 percent). The Danish average for shopping online once a week is 31 percent.

PREFERRED PAYMENT METHODS – Over the past couple of years, the credit card has consistently been the most popular online payment method in Denmark. In 2024, 37 percent of consumers use this payment method. In second place is MobilePay, with 33 percent. This method seems to be increasing in popularity.

CROSS-BORDER – According to Statista, on average, nine out of ten online shoppers in Denmark purchased goods from local sellers. Around four out of ten shoppers also bought online from sellers from other EU countries.

A report from PostNord in 2024, however, said that 54 percent of 1,000 respondents in the country shopped online abroad at least once a month. This is twice as much as the amount of shoppers doing that in 2019.

As expected, shopping cross-border is common among 18 to 29 year-olds. As many as 72 percent of them shop abroad monthly. Even 21 percent do that every week. Men shop cross-border more often (17 percent) than women (8 percent). Most cross-border orders are placed at online stores from Germany or Sweden.

RETURNS – Returns are common, just as in other countries. Up to 8 percent of respondents returned more than half of their recent online orders. And 33 percent returned an order in the first quarter of 2024. The age groups 18-29- and 30-49-year-olds return the most orders. Up to 14 percent in each group returned more than half of their orders in the first quarter of 2024.

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The ecommerce market in Denmark

According to eCommerceDB, ecommerce in Denmark is estimated to reach 14.4 billion euros by the end of 2024. Revenues are expected to perform a compound annual growth rate of 4 percent up to 2028. Because of that, the market is estimated to reach 17 billion euros in that year.

PRODUCT CATEGORIES – As in most European countries, most online orders in 2024 were placed to buy products in the category clothes and footwear. This is according to PostNord’s report in 2024, which was based on a survey.

Based on revenue, the Hobby & Leisure category accounts for 25.4 percent of the total ecommerce revenue in Denmark. Electronics comes in second place, with 20.9 percent. It is followed by Fashion, with 18.2 percent. After that comes Furniture & Homeware with 11.6 percent, followed by Care Products with 9.3 percent, DIY with 9 percent and Grocery with 5.6 percent.

Big online stores in Denmark

Some of the most popular and biggest online stores in Denmark are online book store Saxo, online supermarket Nemlig and consumer electronics retailer Elgiganten. The top 10 of the biggest online stores in the country consists of local sellers, as well as international sellers. Zalando is the biggest sellers, with 250.3 million euros in sales in 2022.

Ecommerce events in Denmark

Every year there are several ecommerce events organized in Denmark. We have a handy ecommerce events calendar, where you can find all the major online retail events in Europe.

Read all our articles about ecommerce in Denmark.