Online commerce continued its double-digit growth in Europe in 2021, not slowed down by the reopening of stores during the year according to a report published Tuesday by two representative organizations of the sector With a turnover of 718 billion euros , up 13%, “
e-commerce continues to grow, despite the lifting of confinements and the possibility for consumers to return to stores
”, are congratulated Ecommerce Europe and EuroCommerce in a press release.
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In the midst of a pandemic in 2020, online sales of goods had indeed exploded, Europeans not being able to leave their homes to consume.
This had helped maintain e-commerce growth at 10%, despite falling sales in the leisure and tourism sector.
In total, online sales had reached 633 billion euros in 2020 on a comparable basis, according to the assessment of the two organizations, carried out with the market analysis center of the University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam.
This figure includes sales made in the 27 countries of the European Union, adding ten non-member countries including the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Ukraine.
Russia, which was originally included in the 2020 balance sheet, was however excluded.
Western Europe number one
Western Europe, which notably includes France, the United Kingdom and Germany, is the most important region for European e-commerce: in 2021 it represented 63% of online sales with 450 billion euros in turnover.
It is followed by Southern Europe, with Italy, Greece and Spain, which accounted for 16% of total turnover last year with 118 billion euros.
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With the lifting of health restrictions, the number of Europeans shopping online has nevertheless fallen slightly, from 74% in 2020 to 73% in 2021. For 2022, EuroCommerce and Ecommerce Europe estimate that growth in the sector will stabilize around the level of 2021, despite the war in Ukraine and inflation which are likely to have an effect on expenditure.
"
The fact that online sales are only showing a small decline so far shows that e-commerce has become indispensable and very resilient
," the two organizations say.
