The incredible growth of online shopping in Europe and globally

Online shopping has increasingly become a habit of consumption, along with the growing development of new technologies.

E-commerce conquers, every year, more and more new consumers. The parallel emerging of online marketplaces such as Amazon, Ebay, Aliexpress that drive its competitors to innovate constantly, are factors that, certainly, will further boost the growth of online shopping in the coming years.

Promising data on the growth of online shopping in Europe

Online purchases of consumer goods have grown exponentially this last year, according to the European Ecommerce Report 2018. This trend can be seen not only in Europe but also globally, where online sales have seen an increase of 13%.

Western Europe continues to be the protagonist of a large part of the total of online purchases, where on the top positions can be found: Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, covering 68% of total online retail sales in Europe.

The south of Europe presents, in turn, 12% of turnover, the north is 8% and Eastern Europe 6%.

40% of the volume of sales of electronic commerce in southern Europe belongs only to Spain, which registered an increase of 2.3%, compared to 2.1% which involved in mid-2017.

This means that, in 2018, Spain stands at the top of the region’s online sales, with a turnover of 18.2 million euros and fourth in the ranking of online sales in the European Union.

Among the most popular marketplaces in Spain, which have been consolidated in the taste of consumers, we find Amazon, Milanuncios, Aliexpress, eBay, and Wallapop.

According to the data taken from the Consumer Insights Survey 2019 report, issued by PwC, the article that most Spaniards buy online is clothes, so that fashion is the most lucrative eCommerce segment.

Finally, according to the same report, 25% of Spaniards use desktop devices for their online purchases, compared to 20% who prefer to buy through smartphones and 14% who do it via tablets.

The advantages of online purchases conquer consumers

According to these data, which will surely appreciate another significant increase in 2019, more and more Spaniards are joining the habit of buying online all those goods essential to survive in their daily lives. And this trend is surely due to the great advantages of online shopping.

Among the main motivations that drive consumers to buy on the Internet are the comfort of buying from home and the time-savings that this entails, in addition to money-saving since the Internet has the great advantage of allowing to compare products and their prices, which translates into great savings for our pocket.

Also, discounts, home delivery, and the possibility of returning products represent other of great advantages that make the consumer is more likely to buy online.

Paying in an online store and buying what you need from the comfort of your home turns out to be a very useful and comfortable solution for another reason as well.

The freedom to pay by a card or make other types of electronic payments takes away the hassle of having to take out large amounts of money every time we have to go shopping. It also allows us to save on commissions that we would otherwise pay each time we take money out of our account to pay in cash.

In addition, the cash is more difficult to control while, when we make a payment with cards we will have reflected all the movements of our account and it will be easier to control and know how we spend our savings.

The technological revolution has undoubtedly changed consumer tastes. In the era of millennials, the so-called Generation Y, everything goes through digital since they usually use the Internet daily (web browsers, blogs, social networks, mobile applications, etc.), and they are looking for advice from friends, opinions from experts, and customer ratings when making any purchase.

Obviously, it is a market totally immersed in the digital transformation of the last decades and, therefore, very sophisticated and difficult to define. It’s about informed and aware, demanding and technologically advanced users, who are therefore more inclined to buy products and services that reflect their way of life, using the technological advantages for more things, above all, to save time and money.

If you also want to enjoy the great advantages and benefits of online shopping and still do not know which payment method to use, we will help you clarify your doubts in this interesting article about the advantages and disadvantages of using a credit, debit or prepaid card.