B2C e-commerce in Western Europe is expected to grow by nearly 10% to €173.8 billion this yearafter a 20% rise to €158.1 billion in 2012, generating a further rise in parcels for delivery to
consumers, according to the latest figures from the Ecommerce Europe association releasedtoday.The Western European region, covering Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands andthe United Kingdom, now ranks first in terms of its e-commerce size, with a 51% share of onlinesales of goods and services in Europe.
The mature online markets in Western Europe are considered to be France, the Netherlands and theUnited Kingdom. The UK leads the way with total online sales of €96.2 billion in 2012 and isexpected to maintain its leading position with total sales to reach €103 billion in 2013. Franceand the Netherlands rank second and third with expected sales of €53 billion and €10.5 billion in2013 respectively, followed by Ireland with total sales forecast to reach €4.6 billion thisyear.
Ireland is considered one of the fastest growing e-commerce markets in Europe with Irishconsumers generating year-on-year sales growth of 25%. Last year, however, 25% of Irish onlinesales were generated overseas due to a lack of choice for the country’s consumers.
Belgium is showing the lowest online sales with €3 billion in 2012. However, the country isexpected to grow by 20% this year with further potential in the years to come, the Europeanumbrella association for online retailers further reported.
The Western European population was estimated at 162.3 million (19.8% of Europe’s population) in2012 while its internet penetration of 83% was far above the European average of 66% and EU28average of 76% last year. The top three countries for internet access are Netherlands (94%),Luxembourg (93%) and the UK (83%).
Ecommerce Europe’s research also revealed that 90 million consumers in Western Europe boughtgoods and services online in 2012. The average amount spent online by Western European householdstotalled €2,625 last year which succeeds by far the European average of €1,400 and EU28 average of€1,696.
The UK is the leader in e-spending per household with €4,010, followed by Ireland and Luxembourgwith €2,861 and €1,955 respectively.
In contrast, Belgium and the Netherlands have been left behind in terms of online spending pershopper with an average amount of €836 and €1,365 respectively. Belgian e-commerce is still growingstrongly and the country is expected to catch up quickly while the Netherlands is considered moremature and the high density of physical retail is limiting the need to buy online compared to othercountries, Ecommerce Europe explained.
Within the next few weeks, the association plans to publish three other regional reports onCentral Europe, Southern Europe and Eastern Europe, including this year’s forecasts.
