Do you manage an ecommerce and you are thinking about expanding your online business to Spain? In order to take this decision you need to know how the Spanish situation is regarding ecommerce and what the perspectives are for the next years. In this article you will find some relevant data regarding online market in Spain that will help you to come to a conclusion about starting selling your products and offering your services in Spain.
Increasing sales
The ecommerce billing in Spain reached €6.100 million during the third trimester of 2016. This represents a growth of more than 16% over the same period in the previous year (Source: http://www.cnmc.es).
Taking into account this growth, online shops managers seem to be confident about the future of the market. According to the annual report about ecommerce evolution and perspectives, published by the eCommerce Observatory and the EY Study Centre, 90% of the Spanish online shops expect to grow during 2017, and 88% of them think this growth will be of 10% or more. At the same time, 65% of the ecommerce predict an increase of the average volume of purchases. 35% of them consider that the volume of the purchases will increase more than 10% and 30% of them think it will increase up to a 10%.
This optimism has to be understood in a context of positive evolution of the online shopping in Spain. During the last three months of 2016, 35% of the Spanish homes used ecommerce to purchase goods. This is a 2,8% more than the same period in 2015 (Source: CNMC). It is clear that the Spanish consumer is embracing the online sector quickly. Currently, 23 million people in Spain connect to Internet on a daily bases. In addition, more than half of the Spanish population between 16 and 74 years old states to have used ecommerce at some point in their lives (Source: Encuesta sobre Equipamiento y Uso de Tecnologías de Información y Comunicación en los Hogares). This leaves a very interesting gap of 6 million potential ecommerce buyers in the Spanish market.
The importance of social networks
People from Spain are very social and open and this is reflected in the high use of social networks where Spaniards are very active and talkative. And the data show how this has its impact in ecommerce. 26% of online buyers, especially the young ones, arrive to the shop website through social networks and 20% use social networks as a source of information before shopping (Source: Estudio Anual de eCommerce 2016). Considering this fact, it is easy to understand why 89% of Spanish ecommerce will invest up to €5000 per month in social media publicity.
Growing purchasing through mobile
According to the Mobile Performance Barometer, in Spain, the percentage of online shop’s incomes proceeding from mobile devices during the first semester of 2016 was more than 15%. This is 50% higher than the same period of 2015. This data corroborate the information presented by the eCommerce Observatory’s research. In this study, more than 30% of the ecommerce managers interviewed declared that, in 2016, the billing proceeding from mobile devices represented more than 15% of the total.
Despite this optimistic data, Spanish online shops have to continue working to make it easier for the customers to buy from their smartphones. As stated by the Estudio Anual de eCommerce 2016, 49% of the users think that it is more comfortable to buy from the computer, 28% qualify the smartphone screen uncomfortable to browse and to shop and 15% does not see it reliable, especially at the moment of the payment.
Wide offer of payment methods
Spanish online shops offer several payment methods to their clients, including credit card (85%), bank transfer (75%), PayPal (74%), direct debit (68%) or cash on delivery (39%) (Source: Informe de evolución y perspectivas eCommerce).
In relation to the client’s preferences, 62% choose to use PayPal because of its security and 29% select credit card because they find it more comfortable (Source: Estudio Anual de eCommerce 2016).
Increasing adhesion to trustmarks
69% of the customers states to take into account the presence of a trustmark in the ecommerce before buying on it (Source: Estudio Anual de eCommerce 2016). With this information, it is easy to understand why 37% of the Spanish ecommerce already has a trustmark and why the 35% of the ones who does not have it, plan to get one during 2017 (Source: Informe de evolución y perspectivas eCommerce).
Conclusion
Ecommerce sector is rapidly growing in Spain and, for the consumers, online shopping is becoming more frequent every year. The data reveal a growing business in a context of a strong economy. As it has been shown in this article, the scene for the next years is very optimistic and the Spanish online shop managers are very confident about the future.
