E-commerce technologies opened up new opportunities to businesses - new sales channels, marketing and logistics costs optimization. For customers, e-commerce made it possible to take advantage of a wider choice of goods and services offered not only by European companies, but also by global companies.

CDP Center experts analyzed the turnover of companies in e-commerce within 2019-2023 based on the Eurostat data.

We analyzed three groups of companies: From 10 to 49 persons employed (small companies), from 50 to 249 persons employed (medium companies), 250 persons employed or more (large companies) for 23 European countries based on Eurostat data for 2010-2023 (current data as of December 2023). The companies represent all private industries except finance.

In 2023, the EU average turnover of large companies attributable to e-commerce is (22.9%) of the total turnover of the companies. This is much higher than for medium and small companies (15.1%) and (8.1%) respectively.

What are the reasons?

Based on the results of the analysis of the types of electronic sales for large, medium and small companies, we discovered that the main contribution to the size of electronic commerce in large companies is made by the EDI-type of sales (15.2% of the company’s turnover).

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) - sales where orders are automatically placed and processed using computer-to-computer communication, based on a standard data exchange format. It is particularly useful for companies that have long-term relationships with their suppliers or customers and need to automate the exchange of information.

Obviously, for large companies, selling to regular customers through e-commerce can significantly reduce communication costs and build an uninterrupted supply schedule that is convenient for customers.

The share of turnover attributable to EDI is much lower for medium and small companies: (9.2%) for medium-sized and (3.3%) for small ones.

According to Eurostat data, the other two types of e-commerce are almost evenly distributed across all business sizes. For example, Web sales via own websites or apps: (6.9%) - among large companies, (5%) - medium-sized, (3.7%) – small businesses. Web sales via e-commerce marketplaces provide a smaller share of turnover: (0.8%) - large, (0.9%) - medium, (1.1%) - small.

Companies probably use marketplaces as advertising platforms, and organize real sales through their websites. It is on their websites that companies can ensure the security of payments and the protection of personal data, which is the most important factor for the European consumer.

If we analyze large companies, we see that all the TOP 10 countries in terms of the share of e-commerce in the turnover are above the European average (8.1%).

At the same time, the top three countries in terms of growth rates of e-commerce in the turnover of small companies for the period 2019-2023 included countries such as Hungary (+7.4%), Denmark (+6.3%) and Croatia (+5.1%). In terms of growth pace, these countries are multiple times higher than the European average for small companies (+0.7%).

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If we analyze medium companies, we see that Czech Republic (29.8%) and Ireland (28.6%) growth pace was almost twice as high as the similar average European average (+15.1%).

At the same time, the top three countries in terms of growth rates of e-commerce in the turnover of medium-sized companies for the period 2019-2023 included countries such as Cyprus (+9.4%), Latvia (+5.6%) and Czechia (+4.2%).

In terms of growth pace, these countries are multiple times higher than the European average for medium companies (+1%).

If we analyze large companies, we see that all the TOP 10 countries in terms of the share of e-commerce in the turnover are above the European average (22.9%).

At the same time, the top three countries in terms of growth rates of e-commerce in the turnover of large companies for the period 2019-2023 included countries such as Cyprus (+10.8%), the Netherlands (+9.6%) and Estonia (+9.5%).

These countries show very high pace especially comparing the European average (-1.9%). Most likely, the average decline in the share of e-commerce in the turnover of large companies in the Eurozone is caused by serious transformation of supply chain during the last five years.

Based on our estimates, the volume of e-commerce in companies' turnover will continue to grow in the next decade. As technology develops, companies will continue to optimize their costs and look for new channels of interaction with regular customers and suppliers. In particular there is a great potential for growth in e-commerce in small and medium-sized businesses.

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