E-commerce to triple in Europe

The European e-commerce market is expected to triple in size in the next few years, new research has suggested.

A study by eMarketer called The European B2C E-commerce report has found that by 2011 the European online retailing market could be worth $407 billion (£201 billion).

Jeffrey Grau, the report's author and a senior analyst at eMarketer, commented that 72 per cent of all online sales in Europe are from three countries.

"By 2011, the combined market share of the three major B2C e-commerce markets - the UK, Germany and France - will drop slightly as smaller, second-tier markets provide a new wave of growth," he remarked.

Countries in eastern Europe could also embrace the e-commerce industry in future years, Mr Grau added, although the UK, France, Spain, Germany and Italy have the highest number of internet users in the continent.

The report found that last year the total amount of sales and goods sold via the internet reached $133 billion (£65.7 billion) and is expected to grow by 25 per cent year on year.

British retailers were warned by the British Retail Consortium recently that they need to embrace the internet as an extra selling channel, or risk losing out to bigger competitors.

© Adfero Ltd

30 Jul 2007 14:44:17 (Source: Adfero)