With an average growth rate of 47% over the year 2013, the e-commerce market in Eastern Europe is comparatively showing the strongest increase in Europe. The projected online turnover of €23 billion for 2014 indicates that there is a lot of ground to gain in the region; only 34 million of 135 million Internet users are using the Internet for shopping.
These figures and trends are revealed by the latest report on B2C e-commerce in Eastern Europe by Ecommerce Europe, the European umbrella organization for 25,000+ companies that sell products and/or services online to consumers.
Figures in the Ecommerce Europe reports are based on the Global Online Measurement Standard for E-commerce (GOMSEC). The European e-commerce figures were established in cooperation with national e-commerce associations and GfK.
Russia stands out head and shoulders
With an online turnover of €15.5 billion, Russia still stands out with head and shoulders above the other countries of the region. The largest single market in Europe boasted the largest online population with 84 million Internet users and 24 million online shoppers, generating a lion’s share of 80% of the region’s total e-commerce market.
Ukraine ranked second with total sales of €1.8 billion, followed by Romania with an online turnover of €1.0 billion. In Russia, the average online expenditure per online shopper was €646 in 2013, whereas Ukrainians spent €617 per e-shopper and Romanians €400. The 34 million online shoppers in Eastern Europe generated a total turnover of €19.3 billion in 2013, which represented 7% of the total European e-commerce turnover.
Strongest growth and highest Internet penetration in Russia as well
Whereas, in 2012, Ukraine realized the strongest e-commerce growth and Romania had the highest Internet penetration, Russia passed both countries in these categories last year. With an e-commerce growth of 50.5% it ended up just ahead of Ukraine (48%). In addition, 59% of the Russian population was connected to the Internet in 2013. In Bulgaria, this percentage amounted to 56% and in Romania 55%. Ukraine ranked last in the region, with 50%.
In total, the Eastern European region consists of Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Moldova, Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, FYR Macedonia and Serbia. However, this report only includes in-depth analyses, including infographic, of the three largest markets of this region: Russia, Ukraine and Romania.
In addition to the Eastern Europe B2C E-commerce Report, Ecommerce Europe publishes four other regional reports this period. These will cover Central Europe, Southern Europe, Western Europe and Northern Europe, The rapports are powered by GlobalCollect, Informatica, RichRelevance and Salesupply.
You may download a free light version of the Eastern Europe B2C Ecommerce report here. For more detailed data on the Russian market, please refer to EWDN’s research studies.
