Europe E-Commerce Landscape

March 2014

2014 Mercator Advisory Group

As European consumers increasingly use the Internet to purchase goods and services online, the Continent’s e-commerce market is rapidly growing. While overall growth of the e-commerce market has been shared across Europe, regional disparities and cultural differences between each country mean that e-commerce opportunities vary not only between Western and Eastern Europe but potentially between neighboring countries.

European E-Commerce Landscape

2014 Mercator Advisory Group

With economic conditions improving across the Europe and inevitable infrastructure upgrades that will improve Internet as well, the European e-commerce market will likely enjoy far more robust growth in the near future than in recent years. While rising online payment fraud should not be underestimated, the growth of third-party payment service providers and renewed efforts by Visa and MasterCard to improve online payment security through V.me and MasterPass will mitigate consumer concerns. Given this scenario, it is clear that the European e-commerce market is not only built for short-term success but poised to sustain long-term growth.

Mercator Advisory Group’s latest Research Note, European E-Commerce Landscape seeks to provide context to the evolving European e-commerce market by providing information and statistics on the fast-growing business-to-consumer (B2C) segment. In addition, this Note highlights the growing online payment fraud conundrum and profiles leading European-based online third-party payment service providers and discusses how they minimize consumer exposure to fraud.

European E-Commerce Landscape

2014 Mercator Advisory Group

“With economic conditions improving across the continent and inevitable infrastructure upgrades that will improve the Internet across Europe, the European e-commerce market will likely enjoy far more robust growth than in recent years. While the majority of activity in the e-commerce market will be directed at the larger and wealthier countries in Western Europe, interested players should not overlook countries in Eastern and Southern Europe that are demonstrating clear e-commerce growth and hold a greater potential for high levels of long-term growth,” comments Tristan Hugo-Webb, Associate Director, International Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group and the primary author of the note.

Tristan Hugo-WebbAssociate DirectorInternational Advisory ServiceMercator Advisory Group

2014 Mercator Advisory Group

• Overview of Europe’s B2C e-commerce market including Mercator Advisory Group estimates for 2014

• An examination of regional disparities in Internet penetration across Europe

• Insight into the growing online payment card fraud issue in Europe and profiles of leading European-based online third-party payment service providers seeking to minimize fraud exposure

Highlights of the Research Note

Figure 2: Internet Penetration across Europe, 2013

2014 Mercator Advisory GroupSources: Eurostat, Mercator Advisory Group

PORTUGAL SPAIN

FRANCE

UNITEDKINGDOM

IRELAND

ICELAND

NORWAY

SWEDENFINLAND

RUSSIAESTONIA

LATVIA

LITHUANIA

BELARUS

POLANDUKRAINEGERMANY

DENMARK

CZECH REPUBLIC SLOVAKIA

ROMANIAHUNGARY

BULGARIA

TURKEY

GREECE

ITALY

SWITZ.AUSTRIA

NETHERLANDS

BELGIUM

LUX.

SLOVENIACROATIA SERBIABOSNIA A.

HERZ. KOSOVOMONTE.

ALBANIA

MK.

MOLDOVA

Countries not listed or difficult to concern include Andorra, LUX (Luxembourg), Bosnia and Herz. (Herzegovina), Monte (Montenegro), Mk (Macedonia), Malta, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Switz (Switzerland) and San Marino .

CYPRUS

= Penetration above 85%

= Penetration above 75%

= Penetration above 65%

= Penetration below 65%

About the Research Note

2014 Mercator Advisory Group

This report contains 12 pages and 4 exhibits.

Companies mentioned in this report include: iDEAL, Klarna, PayPal, Sofort, MasterCard, Visa, QIWI, Ukash.

Members of Mercator Advisory Group’s International Advisory Service have access to these reports as well as the upcoming research for the year ahead, presentations, analyst access, and other membership benefits.

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About Mercator Advisory Group

Mercator Advisory Group is the leading independent research and advisory services firm exclusively focused on the payments and banking industries. We deliver pragmatic and timely research and advice designed to help our clients uncover the most lucrative opportunities to maximize revenue growth and contain costs.

Our clients range from the world's largest payment issuers, acquirers, processors, merchants and associations to leading technology providers and investors. Mercator Advisory Group is also the publisher of the online payments and banking news and information portal PaymentsJournal.com.

2014 Mercator Advisory Group