Sales of goods online in the 19 countries covered in this report were worth €26.6 billion in 2004 accounting for 1.35% of all retail sales.
The European e-commerce market is dominated by the large economies of Germany, the UK and France that together are responsible for 68% of total online goods sales.The highest per capita sales are in Scandinavia and the lowest in Greece.
The UK comes out well on this measure and it is important to understand why.
Unlike the rest of Europe online sales of grocery retailers are significant in Britain – some £1.2 billion or a quarter of all online sales of goods.
Without this, per capita online sales in the UK would be some €88, on a par with Germany and Austria.
Whether or not a significant online food sector develops will have a major bearing on how big each country’s e-commerce sector will be – grocery home shopping in the UK has expanded the market by a third.