eCommerce Statistics 2026: Global and European Data

Ecommerce keeps growing in 2026, but more slowly and more unevenly than in the pandemic years. This page collects the latest global and European figures that matter for online brands: market size, who shops online in each country, how parcels are delivered, why shoppers abandon checkouts and what the new EU duty on low-value imports changes.

Global ecommerce market in 2026

eMarketer forecasts worldwide retail ecommerce sales of $6.88 trillion in 2026, up 7.2% from about $6.42 trillion in 2025. Online now accounts for just over a fifth of all retail spending, and that share is still rising slowly.

• More than 3 billion people were expected to buy online in 2025.
• China, the United States and Western Europe together made up 80.5% of global ecommerce sales in 2025, more than $5.17 trillion.
• The fastest growth is in emerging markets. In 2025 the Philippines (23%), Thailand (20%) and Malaysia (15.5%) grew fastest.
• Most browsing happens on phones. Mobile devices accounted for about 77% of visits to ecommerce sites in 2025, so product pages and checkout must work well on a small screen.

Watch out for: different sources measure different things. Some count only retail goods, others include travel, services or marketplace GMV. Compare growth rates within one source rather than mixing totals from different reports.

European ecommerce in 2026

According to the European E-commerce Report 2026, B2C ecommerce turnover across 38 European countries grew 7% to €911 billion in 2025, or 4% after inflation. Turnover is forecast at €961 billion in 2026. Growth now comes mostly from real volume rather than price increases.

The EU-27 alone is forecast at €757.3 billion in 2026. Ecommerce is equal to about 3.8% of the EU economy (E-GDP), and 77% of Europeans aged 16–74 are expected to shop online in 2026.

By region

Western Europe is still the biggest market by far, but Southern and Eastern Europe are growing two to three times faster. Southern Europe also has the highest ecommerce share of GDP (4.44%).

Online shoppers by country

The share of people who buy online ranges from more than 90% in Ireland, the Netherlands and the Nordics to about half in Bulgaria. Lower shares in Southern and Eastern Europe mean more room to grow, often with different delivery and payment habits.

Eurostat measures the same thing slightly differently, as a share of internet users rather than of all people. On that basis 78% of EU internet users bought online in 2025, up from 62% in 2015, ranging from 57% in Bulgaria to 95% in Ireland. People aged 25–44 remain the core online shoppers, but more than half (55%) of 65–74-year-olds also shopped online.

Delivery: what shoppers expect

Delivery is where many online orders go wrong. Eurostat found that 35.4% of EU online shoppers had a problem with an online purchase in 2025, and slow delivery was the most common one.

Out-of-home delivery is now normal across much of Europe. According to Last Mile Experts’ Out-of-Home Delivery in Europe 2026 report, Poland has the most shared parcel lockers and pickup points, followed by the UK, Spain, Italy and Germany. The Czech Republic (30.8 points per 10,000 people) and Poland (27.3) have the densest networks. DPD runs more than 153,000 pickup points and lockers across Europe, and InPost more than 61,000 lockers.

Watch out for: delivery preferences differ by country. Lockers and pickup points are dense in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, while in France home delivery still dominates and Germany and Italy have fewer pickup points per person. Offer the method each market expects at checkout.

Checkout and cart abandonment

Baymard Institute puts the average documented cart abandonment rate at 70.22%, based on 50 studies. Many shoppers are only browsing, but among those who leave for a specific reason, unexpected costs and delivery are near the top of the list.

Baymard estimates that about $260 billion of lost orders in the US and EU could be recovered with better checkout design alone. Showing delivery cost and delivery time early, offering guest checkout and stating a clear returns policy fix several of the top reasons at once.

Imports from outside the EU and the new €3 duty

Cheap imports have reshaped European ecommerce. The European Commission reports that 4.6 billion low-value parcels (worth €150 or less) entered the EU in 2024, about 12 million a day and twice as many as in 2023.

Since 1 July 2026, these parcels pay a temporary €3 customs duty. It applies per type of item in a parcel (by tariff classification), not per piece: five identical T-shirts pay €3, but three T-shirts and a watch pay €6. The flat duty is planned to run until 1 July 2028, when the EU customs data hub should allow normal duty rates to apply to all imports.

What these numbers mean for online brands

• Europe is still growing, about 5% a year, with the fastest growth in Southern and Eastern Europe. Selling across several EU countries reaches far more buyers than one home market, and the biggest EU marketplaces make that easier.
• Delivery speed and cost decide sales. Slow delivery is the most common complaint in the EU, and extra costs are the top reason for abandoned checkouts. Stock held inside the EU allows delivery within days instead of weeks.
• Offer the delivery methods each country prefers, especially parcel lockers in Central and Eastern Europe.
• Shipping single parcels from outside the EU now costs more. The €3 duty makes bulk import and EU fulfilment more attractive for brands based in Asia, the UK or the US.
• Design for mobile first. Most visits now come from phones, and checkout friction costs more on a small screen.

Frequently asked questions