In the last five years, electronic commerce has established itself as a business model throughout the world. In our country it has experienced a notable boom, especially since the pandemic, and only in the first quarter of 2022, it managed to increase its turnover by 25.3% year-on-year, exceeding 15,600 million euros.
According to the latest data published by the National Market and Competition Commission (CNMC), economic uncertainty and inflation are having a notable impact on consumer demand. This has led to online shopping have experienced a decline in recent months despite being times of great purchases, such as the summer sales, the Black Friday campaign and Christmas.
The latest survey carried out by Packlink confirms this downward trend, especially from the black friday. In fact, during the week of that ‘Black Friday’, the number of Spanish online shoppers has fallen by 4.58% compared to the previous year.
For the Marketing Director of Packlink, Noelia Lázaro, the socioeconomic scenario is not allowing very positive figures to be achieved in the segment of electronic commerce. However, the sector has been resilient and has adapted to these times.
“The sector has known how to maintain itself and, above all, adapt to these times, achieving each proposed challenge: from fighting inflation to solving the economic concerns of consumers, providing them with the necessary tools to facilitate each of their purchases.”
E-commerce shipments fall 16%
Along with this increase in e-commerce billing of 25.3% year-on-year between 2017 and 2022, another of the highlights of the sector is the uneven behavior of the consumers at the European level.
According to the data from the report ‘Purchasing trends in high season’, prepared by Packlink and Retails Economics, the Spanish market has made, in 2022, 16% fewer shipments compared to the previous year. For its part, the German market has also followed the same trend, and its shipments have contracted by 9.03%.
For its part, electronic commerce in France and Italy has continued to evolve positively in the last twelve months, in the case of the first, increasing the number of users by 5.76%, and in the case of the second, growing by 9.6% Despite this evolution, both countries have managed to increase shipments by 10.5% and 10.8%, respectively.
Companies have been able to adapt to the needs of users and bet on a more responsible and flexible consumption model
In the Spanish case, during Black Friday, clothing and footwear have been the most sold product categories, with 29.5%, while electronics has done so with 18.8%, percentages similar to those of the previous year, which accounted for 30.1% and 17.8%, respectively.
From Packlink they maintain that, although the decrease in consumption among Europeans is a fact, it is being less than initially expected. In addition, companies have been able to adapt to the needs of users and bet on a more responsible and flexible consumption model that benefits not only customers, but also small and medium-sized businesses.
initial image | Andrea Piacquadio
