Spain

For ecommerce players, having an omni-channel approach is getting more and more important as customers continue to demand ever-higher levels of service. This requires retailers to adapt new models and be everywhere the customer wants them to be. Specific approaches to omni-channel however, differ widely from country to country.

The total turnover of ecommerce in Spain reached 15.89 billion euros in 2014, new data shows. The ecommerce industry increased by 24.8% last year. That's some impressive growth if you take into account ecommerce in Europe increased by 16.3% in 2013 and ecommerce in South Europe increased by 18.9% during the same period.

In Spain, almost seven out of ten internet users, which corresponds to 19.2 million Spaniards, shop online. And the average online consumer orders something online three times per month, while spending an average of 70 euros per order.

Ecommerce company eShop Ventures has added another brand to its portfolio. After acquiring online stores El Armario de la Tele and BoutiqueSecret, eShop Ventures acquired Nonabox, an online subscription service for mums. This Spanish company was not performing really well in terms of financial results and its founders were already trying to find a buyer of the remaining assets.

Pixmania has announced the acquisition of Oooferton, a Spanish website that offers three daily deals within the consumer electronics sector. The goal of this acquisition is to strengthen its Spanish activities as well as the expansion in the refurbished goods sector.

Sarenza, one of the biggest online shoe retailers in Spain, saw its sales grew by 82% during 'Rebajas', a typical Spanish phenomenon where retailers give massive discounts to customers. During this period, more than one-thirds of total sales happened from mobile devices such as tablets or smartphones. Whereas just 13% happened using a smartphone in 2014, this year the percentage was 21%.

Amazon's marketplace is the largest of its kind. It's attracting millions of consumers who shop on the Amazon website and get their products from third-party sellers. Now there's a list that shows the global top 1,000 Amazon sellers as well as the top 500 sellers on Amazon's European marketplaces in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.

French ecommerce solution PrestaShop has partnered with Nosto, a fast-growing personalization solution from Finland. Thanks to the cooperation agreement, the entire customer base from PrestaShop now has access to new customization options and product recommendations for their online store.

The established but largely divided market in Europe is a popular choice for cross-border ecommerce. Europeans love to shop online on foreign sites, but there's also a strong preference for expansion in this region. But companies should not only focus on powerhouses UK, Germany and France, they also need to look at Eastern Europe. The growing markets of Europe could provide a more unique, value-driven cross-border opportunity.

One in two Spaniards first look online for products before buying them in a physical store. And for 47% of all Spaniards the price is the most important factor for buying things online, as they think products are cheaper online than in-store.

The self-appointed ‘biggest online music store in The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg’ is planning to spread throughout more countries in Europe. Earlier this year Bax-shop already launched online stores in France (Bax-shop.fr) and Germany (Bax-shop.de). Sweden, Italy, UK and Spain are on the list for next year.

The ecommerce industry is constantly changing. Similarly in Spain, where ecommerce still isn't as mature as in other big European countries. As a matter of fact, ecommerce in Spain only accounts for 5% of total ecommerce sales in Europe. But maybe the next six ecommerce trends may change this…

The rapid growth of ecommerce in Spain (and pretty much everywhere) has been a great incentive for small and medium businesses to step into the online world. But although a large percentage of companies already have an online presence, yet few have an ecommerce website.

Eight in ten Spanish inhabitants rate the general economic situation in Spain as bad or very bad. And 23 percent thinks that within a year the situation will be even worse than it is now. And it seems the situation isn't any better online. In the past twelve months, only 36.5 percent made a purchase on the internet.

Facebook is a very popular social network amongst European online retailers. Except for the United Kingdom, where online retailers are more active on Twitter. But Twitter is however still less popular in the UK than in other countries like Germany or Spain. These two countries have the most social media savvy online retailers, as 90% of them are on Facebook and 80% are on Twitter.