The B2C e-commerce market in Eastern Europe is set to grow over 19% this year outpacing thegrowth forecasts for Southern, Northern and Western Europe, according to a new report from the
Ecommerce Europe association.Online sales in Eastern Europe are projected to increase by 19.2% to €23 billion in 2014. The2013 growth rate of 47.4% exceeded by far the overall average rise for Europe as a whole (17.5%)and the 28 EU member states (14.7%).
In 2013, goods and services sold online in Eastern Europe amounted to a total value of €19.3billion, making up more than 5% of the total online sales in Europe (€367bn), according to thelatest Eastern Europe B2C E-Commerce Report by Ecommerce Europe, the European umbrella organisationfor more than 25,000 companies that sell products and/or services online to consumers.
While this share of nearly 5.3% is the lowest in European comparison, Ecommerce Europehighlighted the enormous e-commerce growth potential of the region as only 34 of 135 millioninternet users in Eastern Europe are currently using the internet for shopping.
In terms of B2C e-commerce maturity, the region falls behind its Western, Northern, Southern andCentral European neighbour areas, the association explained. “However, Eastern European e-commerceis steadily growing every year, outpacing growth of traditional retail and services, with B2Ce-commerce representing one of the major drivers of the still ailing economy in EasternEurope.”
The Eastern European region comprises Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Moldova,Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, FYR Macedonia and Serbia. However, this report onlyincludes in-depth analyses of the three largest markets: Russia, Ukraine and Romania.
Russia leads the way as the strongest e-commerce market in Eastern Europe with its online salesreaching €15.5 billion in 2013. As the largest single market in Europe with the largest onlinepopulation of 84 million Internet users and 24 million online shoppers, Russia generated a lion’sshare of 80% of the region’s total e-commerce market last year. Ukraine ranked second with totalsales of €1.8 billion, followed by Romania with an online turnover of €1.0 billion.
On average, Eastern European online shoppers spent €432 per person in 2013. This amount issignificantly less than the EU28 average of €1,500 and the European average of €1,376. Last year,Russians spent an average of €646 online, followed by Ukrainians with €617 per e-shopper andRomanians with €400. In addition, 59% of the Russian population was connected to the internet in2013 leaving behind Bulgaria (56%) and in Romania (55%). Ukraine ranked last in the region, with50%.
Since 2009, online sales in Eastern Europe grew on average by about 17.9% per year. “Theforecast is that this growth will slow down, but still reach respectable growth figures through to2015. Mobile commerce is still emerging in the region, but is set to boost regional e-sales in thecoming years,” Ecommerce Europe stated in the report.
In addition to the Eastern Europe B2C E-commerce Report, Ecommerce Europe publishes four otherregional reports covering Central Europe, Northern Europe, Western Europe and Southern Europe.
Figures in the Ecommerce Europe reports are based on the Global Online Measurement Standard forE-commerce (GOMSEC). The European e-commerce figures were established in cooperation with nationale-commerce associations and GfK.
