Swedish Trade's e-commerce indicator estimates e-commerce's turnover for November 2024 at SEK 17.9 billion, which is an increase of as much as 25 percent compared to November 2023.
Swedes' shopping habits in November were marked by increased online consumption, linked both to Black Week and the start of Christmas shopping. Despite the positive development, Swedish trading companies face continued challenges from the growing competition from foreign players.
'It is very gratifying that November, which is e-commerce's most important month, was so strong. Since e-commerce so far this year shows an increase, there is a lot of evidence that we can go into 2025 with a positive feeling, which is necessary and much needed after several tough years,' says Per Ljungberg, head of innovation for Swedish Trade.
During November, 76 percent of Swedish consumers shopped online, which is one of the highest levels presented in the e-commerce indicator since the hard pandemic restrictions came into effect in 2020. The average purchase amount per consumer also increased significantly, from SEK 2,411 in November 2023 to SEK 2,851 this year.
Foreign players take a larger market share
At the same time, competition from foreign platforms continues, with the Chinese players Temu and Shein once again standing out with 600,000 Swedish customers in November. Approximately every tenth e-commerce kroner, corresponding to almost kroner 2 billion, was spent with foreign players.
Seen over a five-year period, foreign companies have doubled their market share of Swedish private consumers' e-commerce when we specifically look at November, which is one of the most important months of the year for Swedish e-retailers.
'Every four seconds a purchase is made from Temu and Shein. In addition to the great risks consumers take when shopping from these platforms, it also hits Swedish e-commerce hard. A large part of this year's increase is due to Swedes shopping more from foreign sites. We believe in competition, but competition must take place on equal terms. That the issue is now in the hot air is positive and it is important that politicians both nationally and at EU level act quickly on the issue,' concludes Per Ljungberg.
A positive trend – but challenges remain
Despite the strong development for e-commerce in November 2024, the comparison figures from the previous year are still weak, which means that many product categories have not yet reached levels from previous years. This should be seen as a further example that the situation is still tough for many trading companies active in e-commerce.
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