While being widely accepted in the US and at the west, ecommerce had a slow start in Southern and Eastern Europe. With the financial crisis ravaging countries like Spain, Greece and Italy everything was on hold, well almost everything. Surprisingly ecommerce is the only thing that had a constant growth in this region during the past few years.
With a yearly growth rate of 23% from 2009, ecommerce in Southern Europe is steadily growing. A report from Ecommerce Europe reveals that the market value in 2012 was about 33.5 bln Euros and it grew over 18% in the past year alone.
Even with the financial crisis countries who take the lead in ecommerce are Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Croatia, Cyprus and Malta.
Southern Europe ecommerce market is a great opportunity for retailers. Even considering the fact that the average South European shopper spends less than a European shopper (€833 compared to €1,402 in 2012), the possibilities of this growing market are yet to be seen.
