With an increasing contribution to the European GDP and a growing number of e-shoppers, the ecommerce sector is becoming a central piece of the digital economy. In 2023, the branch has generated EUR 887 billion in B2C sales in Europe, accounting for over 4% of the overall European GDP.
While these figures can appear modest – and although the nominal turnover represents a slight decrease (-3%) from 2023 when adjusted for inflation –, they are revealing for the state of the European Union’s Single Market. Strong regional disparities across countries remain, and the measures taken by European policymakers to harness the sector still underperform. These and other takeaways are to be found in the 2024 European E-commerce Report, a joint effort of Ecommerce Europe, EuroCommerce, and the Centre for Market Insights.
As it emerges from the report, the aggregated performance of e-businesses across Europe in the last few years says a lot about policies designed by the outgoing EU mandate – and it is a valuable lesson for 2025. Below is a summary of the key findings and messages.
In the last couple of years, European ecommerce players have experienced common challenges (e.g., high inflation, harsh competition from third countries), which should have required common solutions. However, the key national indicators for ecommerce (internet penetration, e-shoppers, turnover) show that the disparities across macro-regions have further widened in 2023, yielding a very fragmented picture.
While Western Europe – including big ecommerce markets such as Germany, France, and the UK – largely maintains a lion share (64%) in the total European turnover, the region recorded a modest drop of 1%, closing 2023 at EUR 596 billion. In contrast, Southern Europe and Eastern Europe, accounting for respectively 19% and 2% of the European turnover, showed strong growth rates of 14% and 15%, with turnovers reaching EUR 166 billion and EUR 17 billion. Central Europe demonstrated resilience, with a 9% increase, totalling EUR 79 billion, while Northern Europe, traditionally the market with the highest internet and e-shopper penetration, faced a 5% decline, ending at EUR 56 billion. When inflation-corrected, the only macro-regions showing real growth are Southern Europe (9%) and Eastern Europe (3%).
With the right regulatory and economic incentives, the EU can overcome national disparities and global challenges – and become a powerhouse for sustainable, inclusive, and growth-inducive ecommerce. According to the interviews with executives of national ecommerce associations in Europe, part of the 2024 European E-commerce Report, the areas where the sector needs more EU ambition include payments, the twin digital and green transition, and consumer and industrial policy.
In 2023, the payment and delivery landscape across European countries remained heavily influenced by national infrastructure and consumer preferences. Traditional means of payment for online shopping (e.g., debit or credit cards, bank transfers) coexisted with new solutions such as Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), bank links, QR codes, mobile and app payments, tokens – and even cash on delivery, even if only in a handful of European countries. To receive their products bought online, most European consumers seemed to prefer parcel lockers for pick-up, but other delivery options were essential – and in certain countries, even legally required. Consequently, cross-border e-retailers must constantly adapt their offer to this evolving landscape to maintain customer satisfaction and competitiveness.
The payment landscape is likely to undergo some changes in the coming years, with the uptake of solutions with pan-European ambitions. Hopefully, this will lower the costs of cross-border transactions, which are currently dominated by international card schemes. These initiatives include the Digital Euro project, which is still under discussion at the EU level, and will take a few years to materialise. Meanwhile, shorter-term solutions such as Wero are also emerging. Wero is based on the account-to-account (A2A) payment infrastructure supported by some European banks, which will gradually cover a number of countries – such as France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg – in the coming years. Additionally, the ongoing revision of the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) may also address some of the challenges hindering the development of Open Banking in the EU, which could lead to the uptake of existing and new solutions.
Omnichannel commerce can foster deeper and better consumer information, and it can provide businesses from all over Europe with the necessary data and infrastructure to propose more efficient and sustainable options.
In ecommerce, sustainability has materialised in various shapes – such as a surge in e-shopping solutions for second-hand, reconditioned, and repaired goods, as well as the booming market for sustainability certifications. However, so far there is little appetite for cross-border applications. In addition, ecommerce is leading the discussion on waste management – here again still too limited to a national perimeter.
Experimenting with environmentally friendlier initiatives is key for businesses to stay relevant in a changing world and meet growing consumer demand for more sustainable products and services. Nevertheless, there are conflicting signals. The investments for the green transition are still so high that they are little accessible for SMEs. Non-sustainable consumption patterns, based on low-quality products and slashed prices, are skyrocketing – and EU policy measures are doing too little to tackle these problems and make the most of the Single Market.
Similar contrasting messages further hamper the digitalisation of e-businesses. A lot of resources are being deployed to adopt new technologies, such as new AI applications in ecommerce (e.g., customer experience, operations, logistics). In this context, the obstacles encountered by omnichannel businesses are partly linked to suboptimal regulatory measures that can lead them – especially in the case of SMEs – to reconsider those high investments. In some third countries, industrial development, including digitalisation, benefits from a more unified policy approach and even subsidies.
The new mandate of the EU institutions stands a chance to draw lessons from the evolution of ecommerce in Europe in the last few years. We need harmonisation and predictability of rules, coupled with political willingness. An enabling regulatory framework would not only do away with unnecessary fragmentation among EU countries and realise the Single Market, but it would also foster more sustainable consumption patterns. Through systematic, efficient, and effective enforcement of new and existing EU rules on all ecommerce companies, regardless of where they are based, the Union would ensure a level playing field between EU-based and non-EU-based players, securing the competitiveness of the EU Single Market in the global arena.
Margherita Corsaro is Policy Advisor for Sustainability and Product Legislation at Ecommerce Europe. She graduated from La Sorbonne (Paris) in early 2023 – and developed a horizontal knowledge of European law and politics during her multi-lingual studies and traineeships in the field of EU policy and lobbying. Motivated to contribute to a more unified Single Market and EU, she is keen to turn technicalities into opportunities for European businesses and consumers.
Ecommerce Europe is the united voice of the European Digital Commerce sector, representing the interests of companies selling goods and services online to consumers in Europe. Our mission is to act at the EU level by engaging with policymakers to create a better regulatory framework for all e-merchants. Ecommerce Europe is a platform where our members can stay informed, exchange best practices, and define common positions on EU legislation impacting the sector.
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