Popularity of e-commerce came as surprise to retail trade

Online shopping is already worth nearly EUR 10 billion per year

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The Finns already make every tenth purchase of a product or service online.
      Of the aggregate retail trade, worth around EUR 40 billion per year - excluding car and fuel purchases - e-commerce’s stake is nearly EUR 10 billion, according to the first-ever comprehensive examination of online buying habits.
      TNS Gallup, the Federation of Finnish Commerce, and the Finnish Direct Marketing Association decided to look into the online shopping habits of the Finns in January-June this year.
      TNS Gallup Business Unit Director Seppo Roponen was taken by surprise by the extent of the use of e-commerce: in the space of six months the Finns purchased through the Internet goods and services worth approximately EUR 4.8 billion.
      “This is a huge volume and exceeds all expectations. Though we expected the e-business to grow significantly in 2011-2012, its worth is already incomprehensibly high”, reports an astonished Roponen.
      Previous estimates of the total annual worth of e-commerce in Finland have been between 1.4 and 5.6 billion euros.
     
In April-June alone more than two million Finnish consumers made purchases from Finnish and foreign online stores.
      The total number of foreign e-commerce sites stands currently at around 860,000.
      The most popular e-commerce sites include gaming and betting, music downloads, and instant loan services. Buying food and different types of gift cards online also proved popular.
      These services were used more than four times in a three-month period.
      Buying food online is still something of a rare habit, but those who do it use the service often.
     
Of all the online purchases, 84% were through domestic e-commerce sites. The most significant online retailers included Finland’s national betting and lottery agency Veikkaus, the national carrier Finnair, large travel agencies, the consumer electronics retailer Verkkokauppa.com, and the online department store NetAnttila.
      Women in particular favour domestic online stores, whereas men often make their purchases on foreign sites.
     
Of the online purchases made in the first half of the year, 41% were goods, 57% services, and 2% various sorts of digital download content, such as music, games, and ringtones. Even that slim 2% translates in hard cash to EUR 81 million.
     
The regional differences are great: in the capital area the use of e-commerce is above average when it comes to air travel, cinema and other tickets, or tickets for ferry cruises.
      In Northern Finland the emphasis is on women’s clothes, consumer and entertainment electronics, cleaning supplies, and children’s clothes.
     
According to the Federation of Finnish Commerce managing director Juhani Pekkala, the Finnish retail trade is not an island that is protected from competition from abroad.
      In certain speciality branches the foreign e-commerce trade is a threat, for when it comes to price and the range of products it is often difficult to compete with large foreign operators.
      Finnish merchants have to put special emphasis on taking care of their customer relationships, says Marketing and Research Director Teemu Ylikoski of the Finnish Direct Marketing Association.
      “Customer loyalty is the key.”


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Online shopping grows in popularity (8.4.2008)

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