Europe is home to one of the top three biggest e-commerce markets on earth. Those leading the way are eBay and Amazon. Interestingly, there are hundreds of small marketplaces in Europe that service just their immediate area. These areas are often defined by language and shipping accessibility. If you consider the entire retail industry for Europe, e-commerce accounts for only 16% of all sales. Let’s look at the top-performing marketplaces across Europe.
Online retail will only continue growing in the coming months, and those interested in this market should start sooner rather than later and get into the flow now, so they are on board for the build-up and don’t get left behind.
Giants
In Europe, the massive worldwide marketplace, Amazon, receives an average of one billion guests each month. eBay comes second with only 37% of Amazon’s sales; however, this is not a surprise as eBay lags behind Amazon in almost every region.
When we look at marketplaces in specific countries, we see companies such as Allegro, Zalando, and Wildberries. All with a significant following, these online retailers vary wildly.
Allergro
96% of all traffic to this marketplace comes from its home country Poland. Out of the 38 million people living in Poland, over 20 million are customers at Allegro. This shows how massive Allegro is and what they achieved in recently developed Poland. Founded in the late 90s, this retailer has followed an eBay-style script and accumulated over 200 million listings from 125,000 sellers. In the world of top online retailers, Allegro comes 12th.
Zalando
This pan-European, German-based online marketplace thrives in France, Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Austria, Norway, Poland, and many more developed European countries. This marketplace started its life as a direct to the public retailer; however, in 2013, they changed to a partner model, which allows them to house other brands under their logistical umbrella. Their revenue in 2019 was €8 billion, and they have grown to six warehouse bases across Poland and Germany. From sporting goods to beauty products, you can find it all on Zalando.
Ozon
An online bookstore in its first iteration, Ozon launched in 1998 in Russia. As there has been slow development in the online retail sector, this marketplace did not have the same growth as quickly as the others on this list. This slow rise has been mainly due to the lack of security people feel regarding online transactions and trustworthy delivery services. Eventually, Ozon grew to include electronics, clothing, and more. With over 100 million online users, sales in this sector are worth roughly $25 billion. Due to recent worldwide developments such as lockdown and a massive youth population, the need for convenient online shopping outweighed the lack of trust.
Other popular European online retailers include bol.com, Otto, Cdiscount.com, eMAG, and Fnac. There are, of course, many more, but these are the largest and more recognizable across Europe. Online retail will only continue growing in the coming months, and those interested in this market should start sooner rather than later and get into the flow now, so they are on board for the build-up and don’t get left behind.
