Finns spent nearly EUR 10 billion on online shopping last year

Even purchasing cars online gained in popularity

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Last year the Finns clicked their way to buying goods and services through the Internet to a total of EUR 9.4 billion. Foreign-based e-commerce accounted for 17 per cent of this figure.
      “When it comes to to new product groups, buying from foreign-based Internet sites is becoming more and more common”, says TNS Gallup Business Unit Director Seppo Roponen.
      Towards the end of last year it became increasingly evident that Finnish consumers now buy even cars from the Net, both new and pre-owned.
      According to the estimates, last year more than EUR 200 million was spent on online vehicle purchases.
     
TNS Gallup looked into the Finns’ online shopping habits by conducting an interview study that was commissioned by the Federation of Finnish Commerce and the Finnish Direct Marketing Association (Finnish DMA). Answers were received from 9,000 individuals.
      All in all, buying through the Internet increased its popularity quickly last year.
      The most popular product groups were tourism, transport (rail tickets, etc.), gambling, living and decorating, electronics, and clothes. For example, the Finns bought trips online already to the tune of 3.5 billion euros and electronic items worth more than a billion euros last year.
     
In the Finns’ online shopping habits, the foreign e-commerce sites played a substantial role in several product groups: in sporting goods their share was 49 per cent, in special interest items 42 per cent, in pet-related articles 36 per cent, in gambling 32 per cent, in books 31 per cent, in games 28 per cent, and in computer software 27 per cent of the total.
      The strong showing in tourism sales, much of which were through domestic suppliers, brought the overall average down.
     
Items falling under the retail trade label were sold online for EUR 3.1 billion last year.
      This is equivalent to 7-8 per cent of the total taxable value of Finland’s retail trade.
      Cars and fuels are excluded from this calculation.
     
”The Finnish consumer has discovered and is embracing foreign e-commerce. Already this is a problem for the domestic specialty trade, and the government’s taxation decisions, which put further strain on the consumer’s finances, are not helping”, says managing director Juhani Pekkala of the Federation of Finnish Commerce.
      In the spring, the Federation of Finnish Commerce will launch a wide-scale e-commerce training campaign that is aimed at Finnish businesses.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Popularity of e-commerce came as surprise to retail trade (1.10.2010)
  Online shopping grows in popularity (8.4.2008)

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