The retail eCommerce industry has seen massive global expansion in recent years, but Western Europe, in particular, has seen incredible increases. This year, this region was seeing healthy growth in both the aggregate and its overall share of the retail space, but that was before the pandemic hit.
The Pandemic Triggered Massive Growth
Once the pandemic went into full effect, forcing many people to stay at home, retail eCommerce realized substantial growth. Overall spending for the year ended up increasing rapidly, surpassing earlier projections. This is surprising considering that overall retail has declined nearly 10% in this region.
According to eMarketer, this year, it’s projected that eCommerce sales will continue rising, jumping by an astonishing 16.9% this year (compared to an already strong forecast of 8.8%). That equates to about €9.15 billion more in sales than experts originally anticipated.
This Year May Show a €60.8 Billion Increase
With this revision to the projections, 2020 may see €421.20 billion in spending for the online retail space, representing an increase of €60.8 billion from 2019. Still, experts expect that this growth will somewhat deflate in the coming year as brick-and-mortar stores are able to reopen.
Even so, the influx of additional spending leaves the retail eCommerce industry much further ahead than where it was, or even where it was expected to be at this point. Experts are even forecasting that Western Europe will continue experiencing higher than expected online retail sales figures all the way through 2023.
Further Revisions Show Substantial Growth
The latest eMarketer report noted that experts previously estimated that Western Europe’s retail eCommerce spending would account for about 11% of all retail spending in the region for 2020. However, the new figures reveal a representation of 13.2%, showing 3% more than the previous year.
When taking a closer look at individual markets, countries that were already seeing some of the fastest growth in the eCommerce space are expected to continue doing so, although the rates have increased even further.
For instance, Spain will show a sales increase of 22.9%, which represents the higher rate in the region and one of the fastest around the globe. The Netherlands will grow at a similar rate, hitting 21.9%. Italy is close behind at 20.5%. All of these countries were impacted deeply by the pandemic, and began the year with a lower eCommerce rate than some of their peers across Europe, all of which enabled faster growth for them.
As far as more mature markets go, like the Nordic countries and the UK, they’re expected to see accelerated growth, too, although to a lesser extent. The Nordic countries should see a rate of 16.2% while the UK sees 14.7%.
That means, overall, every Western European country will see at least a 12% increase in retail eCommerce this year, and it’s all thanks to the explosive online growth of consumer packaged goods (CPG) thanks to multichannel retailers and eCommerce businesses alike.
If you want to learn more and implement the latest marketing technologies, get in touch with us!