Digital shopping behavior in Europe - statistics & facts

Digital shopping habits among Europeans

Although shopping for goods and services online was ubiquitous in Europe, it was more common in certain parts of the continent. On average, about four in five Western and Northern Europeans had shopped online in 2020. By comparison, only about a third of consumers in Eastern Europe had a habit of buying on the web. There were, however, those who did so much more frequently: while it is unsurprising that a majority of Europeans shopped offline on a weekly basis, a whopping 40 percent of surveyed consumers in Germany shopped online each week.
European shoppers typically have a few prerequisites before deciding whether to buy an item they want online. When asked what they found most important, shoppers in a number of countries, e.g., France and Spain, frequently mentioned a fast and/or reliable delivery, a good returns policy, and in-stock availability of the product(s) in question.

E-commerce use during COVID-19

As was to be expected, the coronavirus outbreak had an enormous impact on offline and online shopping behavior on an international scale. A significant share of consumers in Europe said they had been shopping more digitally since the pandemic began and this was especially true in countries such as Spain, Belgium, and Italy. Since the crisis, some people even started using online retailers as their primary shopping channel for specific products, such as electronic appliances and apparel.

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