New figures from Eurostat have confirmed that online shopping is more popular than ever in the EU. Of the 89 percent of people who use the internet, 72 percent bought something online last year. The Netherlands and Denmark have the highest share of online shoppers, at over 90 percent of internet users.
With many shops forced to close due to coronavirus restrictions, more people are turning to the internet to buy everyday goods. Online shopping increased by 4 percentage points last year compared with 2019 (68% of internet users) and by 10 points compared with 2015 (62%), Eurostat said.
Germany (87%), Sweden (86%) and Ireland (81%) also had high rates of online shoppers. On the other hand, fewer than 50 percent had shopped online in Bulgaria (42%), Romania (45%) and Italy (49%; 2019 data). Over the last five years, the largest increases in online shopping among internet users were recorded in Romania (+27 percentage points), Czechia and Croatia (both +25 pp) as well as Hungary (+23 pp).
Clothes and shoes are the most common thing to buy online, with 64 percent of online shoppers said they bought clothes online In the three months prior to the survey. This was followed by films or series as a streaming service or download (32%), deliveries from restaurants (29%), furniture or gardening products (28%), cosmetics or wellness products (27%), printed books or newspapers (27%), computers, tablets, mobile phones or their accessories (26%) and music as a streaming service or downloads (26%).
