Why are e-shops constantly gaining ground over traditional stores?
January 30, 2018
When e-Commerce creates more job positions
February 1, 2018
E-commerce is now emerging as one of the fastest growing markets in the world. According to a research published by the “E-commerce Europe” organization, online shopping for consumer goods and services amounted to 311.6 billion euros in 2012. At the same time, Europe emerges as a world champion in e-commerce revenues, surpassing even the US (294.2 billion).
The first 5 countries
19%
Online Shopping Increment
24%
Consumers Shopping Online in Cyprus
19%
Value of Online Shopping Increment
In just one year, the value of online shopping grew by 19% despite the crisis which plagued many European states. The countries with the largest amount of electronic purchases were the United Kingdom with 96.193 billion euros, Germany with 50 billion euros and France with 45 billion euros. The top five is complemented by Spain with 12,969 billion euros and Russia with 10,302 billion euros. In Cyprus, the percentage of consumers shopping online showed an increase from 15.7% in 2011 to 24.1% in 2017. As for Greece, it belongs to the countries with the largest increase in online transactions, reaching 61%.
E-commerce and work
The survey also reflects the number of businesses that operate electronically, with 550,000 businesses having an online presence and displaying their products through their e-shops. At the same time, 2,200,000 jobs have been created directly or indirectly through e-commerce, which may positively affect the issue of unemployment. In the coming years, even further growth in e-markets is expected. This is because, of Europe's 820 million inhabitants, 529 million use the internet, while online purchases are about half, that is around 250 million. Therefore, there are another 279 million potential buyers. In addition, the high penetration of tablets and smartphones is expected to boost the growth of online shopping. According to research estimates in 2016, the level of online shopping will grow more than 100%.
M-commerce: Challenge for Entrepreneurs
M-commerce is essentially the e-commerce which is accomplished via smartphones. In Great Britain, for example, it has reached 12% of online sales. Overall, however, it accounts for 5.5% of online purchases, when the equivalent figure for the US is 10%. There is, therefore, considerable scope for the growth of online shopping via mobile phones, giving room for application development to make it more attractive to buy products and services via mobile phones.
