Europe has established itself as the new global market leader in e-commerce after overtakingNorth America with a 19% growth in 2011, according to EMOTA, the European Multi-channel and Online
Trade Association.It was the first time the European e-commerce market, with a total value estimated at €246billion, outperformed North America, leaving it behind on €237 billion, EMOTA revealed.
This strong growth led to online retail sales now accounting for around 5.1% of the total retailmarket value in Europe, with 240,000 e-shoppers spending an average of €1,000 each last year.
Walter Devenuto, President of EMOTA, said: “It is very encouraging to see that Europe is able tosurpass a huge market such as that of North America to lead the world in e-commerce. While onaverage online retail sales account for around 5.1% of the total retail market in Europe, some ofthe more advanced markets are far ahead of that figure and as technology becomes more widespread inthe smaller markets, we expect that this number, supported by 240,000 e-shoppers and rising, willalso keep increasing.”
Despite Europe’s leading position on the e-commerce market, EMOTA stressed that some regions,particularly in Asia, are currently recording far higher growth rates than those in Europe. But itadded that their e-commerce markets are still in the process of developing coming from acomparatively low base.
What makes the European e-commerce market attractive for online consumers is the favourablecombination of its retail offer, competitiveness, logistics infrastructures and technologyavailable in the individual countries, the organisation said.
A new increasingly popular trend is mobile commerce with smartphones becoming a key channel forretailers. Especially in the UK, sales through mobile devices (including tablets) have experienceddramatic growth accounting for 5.3% of e-retail sales in Q4 2011, compared to only 0.4% in Q1 2010when the IMRG Capgemini Quarterly Benchmarking Index was launched. This equals a growth rate of1,320% over the 2-year period.
In Germany, around one third of all smartphone owners (31.7%) use the device for mobile shoppingrepresenting an 8.3% increase compared to the previous year, according to the recent research bythe German E-Commerce and Distance Selling Association (bvh).
Another growth driver is the growing cross-border trade with consumers increasingly purchasingproducts from abroad over the internet. In line with the various language regions, Austrian andSwiss consumers thus shop at German websites, Belgians with French and/or Dutch websites whileSwedes, Danes, Norwegians and Finnish go shopping on websites of Scandinavian origin or in theUSA.
The IMRG Delivery Index shows an increase in exports from the UK to cross-border destinations.According to Royal Mail data, Australia was the leading growth market for UK distance-sellers, witha 31% increase in parcels volumes going “Down Under” in November compared to the same period duringthe previous year. Other European markets also increasingly ordered goods from the UK e-commerceand mail order companies. Parcel volumes to Greece rose 21% this year despite the economicdifficulties, followed by Finland (20%), Netherlands (20%) and France (19%). Denmark (10%),Switzerland (9.5%), Italy (7%) and Spain (6.9%) were also among the top European growth markets forBritish parcel shipments. Volumes to the U.S. have grown by 9.8%, according to Royal Mailfigures.
James Roper, Vice-President of EMOTA and CEO of IMRG, said: “Considering that Europe iscurrently experiencing an economic crisis, y-on-y growth of 19% is an outstanding performance tobecome the largest e-commerce region in the world. Mobile looks set to play an increasinglyimportant role in this growth, as mobile internet access becomes more widespread supported bygreater wi-fi availability. We are really seeing mobile shopping start to come of age now, withboth UK visits and sales through the channel recording extraordinary growth over the past twoyears. It is also very clear that consumers are becoming more comfortable with shoppingcross-border, with a familiar or shared language seeming to be an important factor in the decisionmaking process.”
Christoph Wenk-Fischer, CEO of BVH, commented: “The growth of the German online and mail-orderbusiness is impressive. In 2011, the e-commerce industry realised growth of 18%. Considering thegoods and services together in Germany in 2011, a turnover of €42 billion was made in the B2Cbusiness. For the year 2012, the sales figures are already great so far.”
EMOTA represents 16 e-commerce distance-selling trade associations in 15 countries at present.As a non-profit organisation, its primary objective is to represent distance sellers of goods andservices at European level both on- and offline. EMOTA engages with the European Commission,Members of the European Parliament and all other parties involved based on its insightful knowledgeof market realities, with the aim to promote the sector and facilitate distance selling in Europethrough all its channels of distribution.
