Online share of retail trade in EU countries 2022

The online share of retail trade in selected European countries has increased from 2014 to 2022. In 2022, approximately 26.5 percent of retail sales in the United Kingdom (UK) were generated online. The UK led the country comparison in each year.

The European e-commerce giant

Globally, online commerce is on the rise. It was estimated that in 2024 online retail sales would sum to around 7.4 trillion U.S. dollars and additionally it is forecast to increase to 9.4 trillion U.S. dollars by 2026. When taking a closer look at Europe, the UK not only had the highest share of online retail sales, but also had the highest retail sales value in Europe, followed by Germany and France. In 2022, the UK reached approximately 106 billion British pounds in online retail sales, while Germany generated around 90 billion British pounds and France accumulated less than 60 billion British pounds.

Rise of online retail within the UK

Within the UK, the index that measures the value of monthly internet retail sales in Great Britain grew from 124.6 in November 2022 to 216.2 in November 2023. The rise of online retail in Great Britain can also be seen in the percentage change in monthly online retail sales, which increased to 6.6 percent in June 2023. When looking at all sectors of online retail, household goods stores incurred the largest increase in online sales, with almost a 12 percent YoY change, while department stores saw the lowest YoY change of just under one percent.

Retail e-commerce sales as share of retail trade in selected European countries from 2014 to 2022

Characteristic	2014	2015	2016**	2017	2018	2019	2020***	2021	2022
United Kingdom	13.5%	15.2%	16.8%	16.8%	17.8%	19.2%	26.2%	28.9%	26.5%
Netherlands	7.1%	7.4%	8.5%	8.5%	9.1%	15.3%	13.1%	23.9%	19.2%
Germany	10%	11.6%	13.5%	13.5%	15.1%	14.2%	19.9%	21.9%	19.6%
France	6.9%	8%	9.2%	9.2%	10.1%	9.7%	14.3%	14.6%	14.9%
Spain	3%	3.5%	4.1%	4.1%	4.8%	7.8%	9.9%	10.9%	10.4%
Italy	2.1%	2.5%	3%	3%	3.4%	5.9%	6%	9.2%	10.2%

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Release date

February 2023

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Region

Europe

Survey time period

2014 to 2022

Supplementary notes

** There was a break in time series for 2016; figures may not reflect actual numbers, but estimates for the year.

Excluding vacations, autos, gas and tickets. No exact survey date was given. The numbers are published annually in the first half of each year.
***Pre-pandemic estimate.

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