Infographic: Unstoppable growth for Spanish ecommerce

The Spanish ecommerce industry is moving full speed, to converge with the developed markets in Europe, but still has some way to go. The Spanish ecommerce turnover might almost double in the next two years, from 18 billion euros this year to 30 billion euros in 2016. However, the distance with Europe is still sizable.

The average online spending in Spain is 865 euros per year. When you compare that to the European average of 1243 euros then you get why there’s still a distance between Spain and several European ecommerce markets. It’s the Spanish website Capital that writes about the unstoppable growth of ecommerce in the Southern European country and also mentions the difference between Spain and other ecommerce industries in Europe.

They support their opinion with data from the Spanish statistical office Instituto Nacional de Estadistica. Although 31% of Spaniards ever bought online, this figure is over 40% in communities like the Basque Country and Madrid, while it’s only 20% in communities like Extremadure or the Canary Islands. “This explains why the size of the Spanish market (€14,7 billion) is still far beyond European leaders like the United Kingdom (€107 billion), Germany (€63 billion) and France (€51 billion)”, the website states.

For Spanish people, comfort (78%), price (73%) and saving time (65%) are the main advantages of commerce, according to the aforementioned INE. Consumers were looking mostly for electronics (29%), home decor (25%), gourmet (17%), fashion (11%) and pet supplies (7%).

“Spain is one of the fastest growing markets in Europe”, Marc Vincent, CEO of Rakuten Spain, says. “But we need to move forward in many aspects, in order to match the use of ecommerce in all communities, boost transaction from mobile devices and increase the variety of shopping, by not only focussing on electronics or fashion.”