E-commerce in the Nordic region increasing steadily – delivery an important factor

People in the Nordic region are shopping online more and more: between January and April this year, e-commerce increased by 7 percent compared with last year. The Danes surpassed the Norwegians as the population that shops online the most (76 percent and 75 percent, respectively), but the percentage also increased slightly in Sweden and Norway.

“The development of e-commerce in the Nordic region continues to move forward. For e-commerce to continue to develop positively, it is crucial that deliveries meet consumers’ demands. We’re seeing that consumers expect to be able to decide how to receive their deliveries to a greater extent,” says Annemarie Gardshol, Head of E-commerce at PostNord.

Almost half of all people in the Nordic region consider it very important to be able to choose the delivery method of their purchases. Recipient power is valued highest in Denmark, where over one third of online shoppers consider it very important to be able to choose how an item will be delivered.

In Denmark and Sweden, about one third of e-commerce consumers expect their purchase to be delivered within three days. In Norway, one fourth of consumers expect the same delivery time, and in Finland, one third are open to waiting up to five days.

Preferences for how an item purchased online will be delivered vary among the Nordic countries. However, the most popular option for all countries is to pick up the item from their partner outlet. In Sweden, Norway and Finland, about half of all consumers want to pick up the item themselves. But in Denmark, where home deliveries are more common, only one fifth want to go to a service point themselves. Generally speaking, interest in home deliveries in the evening is low in all countries.

Mobile e-commerce

Most people in the Nordic region still shop online using a computer, but more and more consumers are shopping via cell phone.

A clear trend compared with last year is that more and more Nordic e-commerce consumers are choosing to shop online using their cell phone. The percentage continues to be highest in Sweden, but the development shows an increase in purchases made via cell phone in almost all Nordic countries.

In Denmark, online purchases via cell phone increased by 5 percent to 15 percent this year, thus surpassing the Nordic average. 17 percent shopped via cell phone in Sweden, 12 percent in Norway and 8 percent in Finland.

Popular e-commerce goods

In Sweden and Norway, the most common goods to buy online were media such as books, magazines and CDs. In Denmark and Finland, the most popular items to buy online were clothes and shoes.

The UK, US, Germany and China still top the list by far when people in the Nordic region shop from abroad. In the Nordic region, Sweden is still the leading country for shopping from abroad. However, Swedes do not shop very much from their neighboring countries. Clothes and shoes are the most popular items to buy from abroad.
 

*) E-commerce in the Nordic Region is published once a quarter and is based on a consumer survey conducted in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland involving just over 4,000 respondents. The consumer survey was conducted in April 2015 with a representative national selection of the population aged 18-79 years in each country. The survey was conducted via the TNS SIFO online panel. In all, 1,084 respondents took part in Sweden, 1,163 in Denmark, 1,408 in Norway and 1,252 in Finland.