Europe’s E-Commerce Market Growing Rapidly
Data compiled for Internet Retailer’s 2013 Europe 500 e-commerce report cites factors fueling the growth of European e-commerce. The report notes that Europe’s 45 nations amount to the largest e-commerce market in the world, worth $302.20 billion in 2012, and e-commerce on the continent faces challenges similar to those in Asia. In particular, international e-commerce is difficult in Europe, where different languages and laws among the numerous nations has limited the share of cross-border e-commerce, which accounts for only 9 percent of European e-commerce. As a result, leading Europe 500 retailers are creating more localized websites and online offers. E-commerce also is growing at different rates in different parts of Europe, with growth taking off in Southern and Eastern Europe. Of the Europe 500 companies, 302 are located in France, Germany, and Britain, and accounted for nearly 25 percent of e-commerce sales on the continent in 2012. However, the sales growth of these companies, 16.7 percent, is dwarfed by that of retailers in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, and those in the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, and Russia. Russia in particular is expected to see its e-commerce sales grow by as much as 200 percent over the next three years.
From “A Tale of Two Continents”
Internet Retailer (06/10/13) Brohan, Mark