Introduction
With much of the world reopening after the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, trends in online shopping are slowly starting to normalise again. But several of the seismic shifts we saw across online spaces during this period are still hanging around – and many might be here to stay.
Overall, European e-commerce is still experiencing strong growth in 2021. The fastest regional growth is in Germany with 18%, followed by Denmark (11%), Sweden (10%), and Norway (3%). Only Austria is showing negative growth with -0.3%.
Welcome to the 2021 e-commerce report. This is now the 15th edition of our report that looks at several key markets in Europe to identify trends in the world of online shopping. This year, we’re looking at Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland.
As in previous years, our goal is to dive deep into issues of importance to the e-commerce world to produce relevant, interesting, and actionable insights. In the report, we will publish more than 200 pages of e-commerce facts, based on over 11,000 consumer interviews, across eight European countries. Representing over 150 million people and almost 500 billion euros of e-commerce spending, you’ll find our high-level insights on the pages that follow. And if you would like deeper insights into specific markets, our local country reports explore the concepts here in greater regional detail.
Last year’s report offered insights into how the online shopping world was shifting due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, we’re looking at which of these trends are normalising and which might be here to stay. By comparing online spending on products, travel, and services, we can tell that many were still comfortable shopping for goods online – but were delaying long-haul travel for leisure and business. And the service sector saw a universal win for streaming platforms, with insurance making a strong showing in some markets.
Many of these trends are evident across all destinations, with some outliers that make for interesting reading. It’s these country-wide trends that are often the most interesting to examine – what reasons are driving the sustained drive towards online shopping, what are the most important factors when it comes to online payments, which goods and services are consumers buying online, and why are people abandoning shopping carts.
Of course, each country is unique, which is why we produce detailed reports on specific markets. And over the years, we’ve found that some factors like preferred payment methods are surprisingly regional. All markets place the same emphasis on security, speed, and simplicity – yet many places their trust in different products, from brand-name payment gateways to cards, bank transfers, and invoicing.
The data is more than just for interest’s sake, of course. It offers e-commerce businesses deep insights into clients and the products that they demand. Understanding what makes your client abandon a cart, for example, is critical to improving sales. And with the data and physical solutions that we provide, we hope you find this helpful as we navigate the ever-changing e-commerce world.
