eCommerce Activity Continues to Increase in Europe

The eCommerce boom is continuing at pace in Western and Central Europe, with the UK being a particularly strong market for online retailers.

A new study published by Research and Markets, has suggested the number of internet transactions completed in 2013 in Western Europe will be ten per cent higher than last year. Online sales in this region are expected to be worth 300 billion euros (£252.4 billion) by 2016.

The highest eCommerce penetration will be in the Scandinavian countries, Germany, Netherlands, France and the UK, with cross-border trade becoming more common.

With the digital revolution in full swing, it is no surprise to see a growing number of consumers purchasing items far more cheaply overseas.

The days when people were forced to pay the high prices charged by local retailers are long gone, as the internet has opened up a plethora of different options.

In fact, the Research and Markets report indicated that ten per cent of shoppers purchased something from a foreign website in 2012 and this statistic is set to double by 2015. Amazon and Apple are both performing strongly in the eCommerce market, which is no surprise given their respective reputations.

The study also stated that Argos, Next and Tesco have benefited from the growth of mobile transactions, with all of them making it as easy and quick as possible for customers to purchase items from their smartphones.

This is a trend that is expected to develop over the coming years, as more people get their hands on sophisticated handheld devices.

Experts also believe the emergence of super-fast 4G wireless connections – which are now being rolled out across the UK – will drive greater uptake of mobile shopping services.

In fact, ABI Research believes 4G will overtake 3G as the world’s leading network far more quickly than some people think. Although it accounted for just 2.9 per cent of overall mobile data traffic at the end of the second quarter of 2013, this figure will surge at a compound annual growth rate of 82.2 per cent between now and 2018.