Good news! E-commerce is gaining ground and becoming increasingly popular in Europe.
According to the Mastercard Masterindex study, the European e-commerce market is expected to grow by 45% from 2015 to 2018, consolidating a longer-term trend.
For this first Masterindex study on pan-European e-commerce and new payment trends, consumers were surveyed in over 20 countries of the European Economic Area. The results show that in 2016, one in four Europeans with internet access purchased products or services online at least once a week.
On average, more than 40% of European surveyees said that they shop online at least once a year, not too far from Portugal’s figures, which stand at 43%.
The most popular items purchased cross-border by Portuguese consumers are: clothing, footwear and accessories (29%), electronics (26%, a far higher figure than the European average of 17%) and books (20%).
Regarding online shopping concerns, they differ from country to country, but fear of fraud is still mentioned as one of the most important reasons for not buying online. Greece (71%), Spain (64%) or Denmark (46%) are the countries where this is more clearly visible.
The overall picture suggests that there is strong growth potential for e-commerce in Europe, with on average more than 40% of European online users reporting that they engage in e-commerce at least once a year.
One of the main reasons for this growth, both in Portugal and abroad, is in the continued effort to build trust in e-commerce and, moreover, to improve online offers and conditions.
