How much time do we dedicate to e-commerce?

Visiting online stores is one of the favorite activities of European users. A recent study conducted by comScore (E-commerce: 10 trends – EU5) reveals that 84% of users in the five main countries of the European Union (Germany, United Kingdom, France, Spain, and Italy) accessed e-commerce sites during the last quarter of last year.

This percentage exceeds the global average by 18 points, which is 66%. North America presents figures almost identical to those of the five European countries (83%), while Latin America stands at 65% and the Asia Pacific region is at 64%.

E-commerce penetration percentages vary slightly among the five European countries studied, as can be seen in the following graph:

However, there are big differences in the time spent by users in these five countries on online shopping.

Thus, users in the United Kingdom and Germany spend an average of around five hours a month exploring e-commerce sites. Specifically, Britons average 322 minutes (5 hours and 22 minutes), while Germans reach 299 minutes (4 hours and 59 minutes).

French users spend an average of 185 minutes (3 hours and 5 minutes) each month on e-commerce, while for Spanish users the average is slightly lower: 173 minutes (2 hours and 53 minutes). Italy is the country of the five analyzed with the least time dedicated to e-commerce: an average of 157 minutes (2 hours and 37 minutes) per user.

The comScore study is based on multiplatform data (computers and mobile devices) from five European countries: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom).

According to this report, consumers in the United Kingdom and Spain are more prone to use mobile devices to access e-commerce sites, while French and German consumers prefer the computer for online purchases.

Clothing is the product that leads visits to online stores in the set of the five countries studied, ahead of electronics and interior decoration. If we analyze the specific case of Spain, the ranking is dominated by electronics, with clothing in second position and food in third place.

Amazon is the e-commerce store with the highest number of visitors in the five countries studied, with the corresponding local edition of the store in each country. The second place shows greater variation. Thus, while eBay is second in Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom, in Spain the second position corresponds to Elcorteingles.es, while in France that position is for the Cdiscount.com store.