Finland – 80 % of online consumers shop cross-border

By Direct Link - With a population of a bit more than 5,5 million, Finland is the third country in the Nordic region in terms of population. It is also the only country with the Euro as its currency, making it a little easier for Finns to shop from other European countries.

Finnish e-commerce has historically lagged somewhat behind the other Nordic countries, despite the country´s very high level of digitalization. Finnish consumers in the older age groups have been more skeptical towards e-commerce than comparable age groups in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. However, during the Coronavirus pandemic, the online share of total retail sales has increased, and new consumer groups have hit the market.

Finnish online consumers are quite keen cross-border buyers. This can probably be linked to the fact that there have been comparatively few strong domestic brands. Their top destination is Germany, followed by China and Sweden when making cross-border purchases.

Finnish consumers are the least likely to have purchased products from marketplaces if we compare to the Nordic neighbors. As much as 39 percent of the Finns state that they have not bought from any marketplace during 2022. As mentioned earlier, they are fond of shopping from Germany so the total dominant among the marketplaces is Zalando, with 37 percent of the consumers having made purchases, followed by eBay at 18 percent and Amazon at 15 percent.

In most of the different e-commerce markets in Europe, home delivery is clearly the preferred option when it comes to delivery alternatives. This is not the case in Finland. Consumers here are the only ones who hold collect the item from a parcel locker as their number one preference.