With online shopping on the rise due to the pandemic lockdown measures, Greece and Cyprus are well below the EU average in online shopping compared with the rest of the member states.
According to figures released on Monday by Eurostat, 39% of Greeks and Cypriots between the ages of 16 – 74 shopped online in 2019, with the highest percentage reported in Denmark (84%), Sweden (82%), followed by the Netherlands (81%), Germany (79%) and Finland (73%).
However, the highest increase over the last 10 years was in Estonia, with the share of online shoppers up 51 percentage points from 17% in 2009 to 68% in 2019.
According to the report, men tend to shop online slightly more than women, with 61% of men and 59% of women shopping online. However, the share of online shoppers has increased more among women over the last 10 years (from 29% in 2009 to 59% in 2019) than among men (from 35% in 2009 to 61% in 2019).
The share of online shoppers has increased substantially among all age groups over the last 10 years, in particular for the age groups between 16 and 54 years old. The highest share and the highest increase was among internet users aged 25 to 34 years (from 46% in 2009 to 79% in 2019), followed by the age groups 16 to 24 years (up from 41% to 73%), 35 to 44 years (up from 41% to 71%) and 45 to 54 years (up from 31% to 61%). The share of online shopper rose also in the group of persons aged 55 to 64 years, from 19% in the 2009 survey to 45% in the 2019 survey, as well as for those aged 65 to 74 years (up from 8% to 28%).
