Last year, B2C ecommerce in Europe generated a nominal turnover of 887 billion euros. This was a slight increase of 3 percent compared to a year earlier, when the turnover reached 864 billion euros. However, there are large regional differences.
Ecommerce in Europe has been growing in the last couple of years, though its development has significantly slowed down since the COVID-19 boom. According to the latest European E-commerce Report by Ecommerce Europe and EuroCommerce, the European B2C ecommerce sector increased its nominal turnover from 864 billion euros to 887 billion euros between 2022 and 2023.
Differences between regions
The report also looks into the separate regions making up Europe. The Western European B2C ecommerce market declined 1 percent last year, generating a turnover of 596 billion euros. Meanwhile, Southern Europe and Eastern Europe showed strong growth rates of 14 and 15 percent, respectively. Their turnovers reached 166 billion euros and 17 billion euros.
Southern Europe and Eastern Europe had the strongest growth rates in ecommerce turnover
And B2C online turnover in Central Europe increased 8 percent, reaching 79 billion euros. A decline was also visible in Northern Europe, where turnover decreased 5 percent. The region reached a turnover of 56 billion euros by the end of the year.
Inflation stabilizing
According to the researchers, inflation led to a decline of 3 percent in ecommerce turnover. However, it seems that inflation is declining. Between 2022 and 2023, inflation declined from 8.5 to 6.1 percent.
European B2C ecommerce turnover is expected to grow 8% in 2024
Additionally, it is expected that the inflation rate in 2024 will decline even more, reaching a more normal 2.7 percent. This will result in higher consumer confidence and spending in Europe. Because of that, the researchers expect a growth of 8 percent in B2C ecommerce turnover across the continent.
‘Ecommerce remains vibrant’
“Our report shows that ecommerce remains vibrant and holds significant opportunities for growth through technological advancements and strong consumer demand for sustainability”, said Christel Delberghe, Director General of EuroCommerce. “It also faces many challenges arising from, for example, global competition, different levels of technological adoption or grappling with new EU legislation. The ability of businesses to innovate and adapt to these changing conditions will be key for their success in this competitive landscape, as well as the fair enforcement of EU legislation on all companies selling to EU consumers by European authorities.”
