Ecommerce moves European Christmas rush abroad

Ecommerce in Europe has led to around one in twenty Christmas gifts bought online in Europe this year coming from foreign local retailers with online stores, according to new research.

A projected €2.8 million (£2.06 million) was expected to be spent at foreign online stores by European ecommerce Christmas hunters – up from €2.2 million last year, international research from RetailMeNot and the Centre for Retail Research found.

This marks a large difference from their US counterparts, who are much more wary of shopping online outside of the USA, showing that the European cross-border thinking translates to the ecommerce world just as easily.

“The European market is increasingly becoming one unified market”, Iwan Mouton, partner manager of RetailMeNot’s Dutch branch ActiePagina.nl told Ecommercenews. “Shoppers just go to online shops where they can find the best service, products or prices, regardless of whether it’s domestically or abroad. They also know to find foreign online shops better than before. Local retailers must be aware they are also competing with foreign shops, but there are also opportunities if they meet the requirements and demands of foreign consumers”, he says.

Italy and Spain showed the largest growth in cross-border online shopping during the holiday season, with increases of 48.3% and 56.5% respectively projected for the 2015 holiday season.