Europe is home to 756 million people, living in 44 different countries, speaking 24 different official languages and using 20 different national currencies (with EURO being the primary currency used in 20 countries). Despite the already huge e-commerce market size of 881.3 billion EUR (2025) across diverse markets, Europe still offers immense e-commerce businesses opportunities.
Buying online is very popular in many European markets throughout all segments – from classical online-retail (primarily fashion and electronics) to digital goods and streaming to services like event-tickets, travel or food delivery. More than 30% of online purchases are cross-border. With regards to payments, there are no singular dominant payment methods across the continent (like debit/credit cards would be in the US). There are many local preferences in the different markets and understanding the right mix of payment methods is key to capturing market opportunities in the different European countries.
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Population 756.5 M -
Land size 10.5 M KM² -
Median age 42.8 Yr
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E-commerce volume 881.3 Bn USD -
E-commerce growth 20.3%
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People with mobile phone (% age 15+)95%
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People with internet access (% age 15+)94.7%
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People with bank account (% age 15+)93.1%
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People with credit or debit card (% age 15+)83.2%
- Card payments
- Online banking
- Wallets
- Other
Europe shows sustainable e-commerce growth and this trend is predicted to be long-term – fueled by multiple factors:
● In the EU in 2024, 94% of surveyed individuals aged 16-74 years had used the internet within the last 12 months with 77% of them having bought or ordered goods or services. Once used to the convenience of getting more and more goods delivered, this has proven to be a sustainable trend and also motivates more classical brick-and-mortar retailers to invest in an omni-channel offer (with click & collect or home-delivery options).
● Other areas of E-commerce outside of online retail are also on the rise. Sale of digital goods, movie and music streaming, subscription of online services (from meal-delivery to travel to event tickets, etc.) as well as online gaming, which become common through all age groups.
● In addition to the growth of E-commerce volumes in established markets like the UK or Germany, other European regions are catching up quickly. Consumers in Eastern and Southern European markets that historically showed smaller adoption to online purchases – are growing rapidly.
The growing number of new e-shoppers both across all the different European countries and across different age groups, also increases the challenges of e-shops offering the right mix of payment methods. Historically payment preferences in the different European countries are very diverse. At the same time e-shoppers are more demanding: surveys show that up to 86% of buyers are inclined to abandon their purchase if their preferred payment method is not available. Over the last years numerous new “local payment methods” have entered the market or increased their offer. This makes it easier for online retailers to broaden their mix of payments and to capture new market opportunities fully.
