As digital retail continues its upward climb in the post-pandemic economy, the Nordic countries—Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Norway—have emerged as global frontrunners in e-commerce adoption. According to the newly released PostNord Spring 2025 Nordic E-commerce Report, over 80% of Nordic consumers shop online at least monthly, with increasing emphasis on convenience, sustainability, and international shopping.

Today, we want to dive into the key e-commerce trends reshaping the Nordics, thanks to our partners at PostNord, and digest this insightful E-commerce in the Nordics 2025 Spring report. Remember, you can download the full report here.

E-commerce Growth Rebounds in 2024

After a sluggish 2023, Nordic e-commerce made a notable recovery in 2024, outpacing overall retail growth across all four countries. While uncertainty in global trade and geopolitical tensions remain, the region’s e-commerce ecosystem is expanding, driven by tech-savvy consumers, mature delivery infrastructures, and a growing appetite for cross-border purchases.

Nordic Online Shopping in Numbers (2025)

• 84% shop online at least once a month
  
• 73% made an international online purchase in the past year
  
• 32% purchased second-hand items online in the last 30 days
  
• 62% paid for delivery during their last online purchase
  
• Most common delivery: Service point (32%)
  
• Most common payment: Credit card (24%)
  

Country-By-Country Breakdown

Sweden: The Most Mature Market

• 90% shop monthly (highest in the Nordics)
  
• Most prefer home delivery and pay for convenience
  
• Top categories: clothes, beauty, groceries
  
• Swedes favor invoice payments (thanks to Klarna)
  
• Strong second-hand growth driven by sustainability and style
  

Denmark: The Price-Savvy Consumer

• Service points dominate deliveries, but home delivery is preferred
  
• Danes are the most active cross-border shoppers (77%)
  
• Popular international platforms: Zalando, Temu, Amazon
  
• Slight dip in second-hand shopping, especially among 30–49 age group
  
• Most value: lowest price + pickup flexibility
  

Finland: The Parcel Locker Nation

• 37% prefer parcel lockers—highest in the Nordics
  
• Weekly online shopping among 18–29-year-olds jumped from 33% to 50%
  
• Second-hand shopping and eco-conscious buying are gaining ground.
  
• Online bank payment still leads, but cards and mobile pay rising.
  
• Returns via parcel lockers are uniquely dominant.
  

Norway: Flexibility First

• Highest willingness to pay for sustainable and fast deliveries
  
• 76% shop from abroad; top foreign sites include Temu and Amazon
  
• Home deliveries and parcel lockers are on the rise.
  
• 71% value clear return policies—the highest in the Nordics
  
• Second-hand fashion and electronics are popular.
  

Cross-Border Shopping: China, Germany & Sweden Lead

China remains the top foreign country from which Nordic consumers shop, especially among older age groups. Germany and Sweden follow closely, with Sweden being the most popular Nordic country for cross-border purchases, driven by a strong domestic e-commerce ecosystem and favorable logistics.

Sustainability: Strong Intent, Moderate Action

Despite economic pressures, 8 in 10 Nordic consumers consider sustainability when shopping online. However, willingness to pay extra for eco-friendly deliveries or products remains mixed. Swedes and Norwegians are more open to paying for sustainable delivery options, while Finns and Danes show more caution.

Key factors influencing sustainable purchases:

• Sustainable materials
  
• Fair working conditions
  
• Eco-friendly delivery
  

Key Takeaways for E-tailers

• Localize delivery and payment options to each Nordic market.
  
• Offer clear and flexible return policies—critical in Norway.
  
• Support parcel lockers in Finland and home deliveries in Sweden and Norway.
  
• Invest in second-hand or resale platforms to tap into circular economy demand.
  
• Balance sustainability with affordability to win over price-sensitive shoppers.
  

The 2025 Nordic e-commerce landscape reveals a digitally unified but behaviorally diverse market. To succeed, brands must embrace regional preferences—from payment systems and delivery expectations to sustainability values and second-hand shopping trends.

E-commerce in the Nordics isn’t just growing—it’s evolving. Retailers who adapt to these nuanced shifts will be best positioned to lead in this competitive, connected region.

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96% of Germans and 95% of Spanish consumers surveyed claimed to have bought something online during the last three months, according to a Aliexpress Consumer Insight Report. 

The report also claims that 50% of consumers in Germany, France, U.K. and Spain have used an online marketplace in the last 3 months. 

Aliexpress survey compares the consumption trends of the last three months among consumers in Spain, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom through 4,000 consumer surveys in these markets.

In particular, the figures show that online shopping remains very popular across Europe, with 94% of consumers surveyed saying they have shopped online in the last three months. The highest rates of online shopping were recorded in Germany (96%) and Spain (95%), followed by a still very popular 90% among UK consumers. 

Furthermore, despite being familiar with online channels, Spaniards still enjoy visiting physical stores to shop and report making between a quarter and half of their offline purchases (29%) and online (28%).

Overall Europeans are a continent of online shoppers – with 94% of consumers surveyed stating they had spent money online over the past three months.

“What we can see from this first Consumer Insight Report is an enduring passion for online shopping among Europeans, especially in categories that are all about personal self-expression – clothing and beauty,” AliExpress European Commercial Director Gary Topp said in a statement.

Online shopping preferences by sector 

Sectors do vary according to the region. For example, in France, beauty and health products were the sought-after online and across all product categories, 53% of shoppers spent over €288 ($315) online over the last three months. 

Sports and entertainment topped the consumer category chart in Spain, where 58% of shoppers reported making related purchases. In Germany, nearly 79% of consumers bought apparel digitally in the last three months.

Meanwhile, there’s a party happening across the Channel, where over a quarter of Brits stated they had recently bought wedding and event-related products online.

Overall, it seems the report painted a map of consumer preferences for Europe where we can clearly notice that French consumers are more ‘fashionistas’ while, for example, German consumers are more inclined to trending tech gadgets. 

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The CILT has put the list together by assessing a range of key criteria made available through the Mint UK database, annual reports and the European Commission. Amongst the assessed criteria were financials, performance, accreditation, the gender pay gap and human resource factors.

In the list, we find logistics service providers such as CitySprint (30), DB Schenker (27), Palletways (19) and FedEx (18). To see the full list and additional information about the companies, click here.

Top 10 UK logistics service providers

1: DPD Group
2: DHL Supply Chain
3: UPS
4: Wincanton
5: Kuehne + Nagel
6: Hermes
7: Bulkhaul
8: Turners
9: Brenntag UK & Ireland
10: XPO Supply Chain UK

UK's favourite parcel delivery company

DPD Group scored first place on the list. According to CILT, it’s the UK’s favourite parcel delivery company and a market leader with an unrivalled level of investment in staff, innovative technology, infrastructure and customer service. “DPD has a reputation for being the most innovative carrier in the express parcels sector. The organisation is constantly investing in technology to provide its customers with the best possible delivery experience. DPD’s success in recent years has been largely down to 'Predict', its one-hour delivery slots service.”

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Growing markets
According to the report, about 81 percent of the total online population in Sweden are e-shoppers. This means these people have been buying online at least once in the last year. It is expected that this percentage will rise to 86 percent in 2018. On average, an online Swedish shopper spent 1,862.12 euros last year. The category that is most popular for online shopping, based on data from Statista, are (children's) items and toys, which showed a 23 percent growth last year. Other fast-growing categories are building materials (+21 percent), groceries (+19 percent) and home decor and furniture (+18 percent).

The post E-commerce Sweden: €14.5 billion in 2017 appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.

It means the e-commerce turnover is increasing even though the average spending per buyer will decrease slightly. Last year, a little more than 50% perecnt of the Belgian population shopped online and spent on average €1700 in 2017. This year, this will decrease to €1686

The majority of online spending in Belgium goes through laptops (54 percent), followed by PCs (30 percent), tablets (9 percent) and smartphones (6 percent). Belgian consumers shop online, they mostly order clothing and footwear (42 percent). This category is followed by home electronics (31 percent), books (21 percent) and cosmetic and skincare (18 percent).

Cross-border
Belgium has always been shopping cross-border, and especially Dutch shops are popular. 34 percent of the Belgian population has shopped online from the Netherlands, which is a significant difference with the percentage of buyers in China (14 percent), the United Kingdom and Germany (13 percent).

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Retailers have, for the most part, figured out how to be available to their customers across numerous touchpoints, and now they are seeking to adopt the lessons they have learned online in their physical stores. It is clear why it is important for retailers to do this when you consider that only 32% of shoppers actually visit stores because they like the overall in-store experience (2016 connected commerce report, Salesforce).

A big part of this is creating a personalised experience for their customers in-store, using similar techniques and data-sets which have brought them success online.

Future Stores is now in its fourth year of bringing together the leading minds in retail innovation, as well as other influential speakers and business leaders from all over the world. Leading up to Future Stores 2018, this report surveyed 103 Heads of Digital and In-Store Development from some of the world’s top retailers to find out how they’re taking advantage of technology to empower store associates and create captivating in-store experiences.

Interested? Join the event and download the full report here.

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■ Cross-border shoppers in developing markets are increasing significantly. Forrester’s survey data show an increase in online adults shopping online across borders in many European and Asia Pacific countries. Online cross-border buyer growth in Latin America, Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East will see double-digit compound annual growth over the next five years — significantly more than the growth in Europe and North America.

■ Marketplaces are increasing their share of cross-border sales. Cross-border shoppers prefer to use global marketplaces when they shop abroad.  Alibaba, which holds half of the online B2C market in China, increased its share of online sales from outside China to 7% in 2015.  In Japan, online marketplace Rakuten reported 41% growth in cross-border sales in 2015, more than twice the growth of the domestic eCommerce market.  In Germany, France, and the UK, more than half of cross-border buyers buy from Amazon and eBay.  

■ Cross-border shopping is becoming easier and faster. Free-trade zones (FTZs) in China lower taxes on imported goods. Bonded warehouses within FTZs allow retailers to ship goods across borders in anticipation of a sale, reducing the time to deliver to the consumer to just two to three days.  As cross-border shopping develops, cross-border buyers look to reduce shipping costs and delivery times by shopping closer to home. Forrester’s survey data shows for example that 38% of online cross-border buyers in South Korea bought from other Asian countries in 2015 up from 35% in 2014.

Price, Choice, And Authenticity Drive Cross-Border Shoppers
Consumers shop across borders to find cheaper goods, goods that are not available in their domestic market, or to shop at international retailers they can trust.  Although cross-border shopping often implies longer delivery times and higher delivery costs than for domestic purchases, the price (including shipping), choice, and authenticity of products drives consumers to shop across borders:

■ Price. A country's cross-border shopping correlates with the country's average price of goods. The higher a country's price level index, the higher the opportunity for online shoppers to find retail items cheaper outside their domestic market.  For example, domestic goods are expensive in the Nordic region and in Australia, which explains why more than 70% of Nordic shoppers and 80% of Australian online shoppers have purchased from abroad.

■ Choice. Larger competitive domestic online markets, such as Germany, France, the UK, and the US, inhibit the need for shoppers to buy goods across borders.  Online buyers in countries with small eCommerce markets, such as Russia, Mexico, and India, are more likely to shop across borders to find a better choice of goods. Canada is also a small online market; it’s less than a 10th of the size of the US. Given the convenience of having a large online market on its doorstep, it is not surprising that one-third of Canadian online retail sales in come from across the US border.

■ Authenticity. Product quality and authenticity are also important factors for cross-border shoppers, especially in India and China.  Chinese shoppers favour foreign brands over domestic brands notably for luxury goods, baby food, and beauty products.  Alibaba has recently undergone criticism for not managing counterfeit goods on its websites; this has hurt its reputation and further reinforced the need for online shoppers to buy across borders from recognized overseas websites to guarantee the authenticity of their purchases.

Retailers Must Embrace The Opportunities Of Cross-Border Shopping
Shopping across borders not only helps retailers understand new consumer needs, but it also helps logistics companies develop more efficient ways to deliver goods across the globe while improving the customer experience of the online cross-border buyer. Cross-border shopping helps retailers:

■ Develop a more integrated cross-border delivery network. Shipping costs are the most common reason in Europe for not completing an online purchase.  With half of all cross-border retail taking place between regions, online retailers are increasingly investing in global logistics solutions for efficient cross-border delivery. Both Alibaba and Amazon have made major investments in global supply chain infrastructure to facilitate cross-border retail.  Amazon is expanding its logistics operations in China to reduce logistics costs and make it easier for Chinese merchants and manufacturers to transport their goods to major hubs around the world.

■ Use online habits to drive cross-border habits. As in domestic online retail, apparel and accessories is the most popular cross-border category; one-fifth of the EU-5's online cross-border shoppers report that they've recently ordered clothes/accessories from a website outside their own country.  In Australia, which is a mature online cross-border market, the growth in cross-border commerce mirrors eCommerce growth.  Inhibitors to cross-border trade are similar to those associated with online shopping — whether that’s web interfaces that don’t adapt to the shopper’s preferred device, the inability to deliver content in their preferred language with their preferred payment and delivery options, or the lack of credibility and authenticity of the goods bought.

■ Identify gaps and opportunities within domestic online markets. Understanding the categories that cross-border shoppers buy helps identify gaps and opportunities within domestic markets. For example, it can highlight different prices for the same goods in different markets or how domestic markets don’t meet online shopper needs.  In 2015 only 17% of French online cosmetics buyers bought beauty products across borders, compared with 34% of their Italian peers.  Given that France is a key provider of premium cosmetics products to Europe, it is not surprising that French online beauty buyers are less likely to shop across borders than the Italians.  

This report uses data from Forrester’s Global Online Cross-Border Retail Forecast, 2016 To 2021 and from Forrester’s Consumer Technographics® surveys to understand online cross-border shopper behaviour. Michael O’Grady is a Senior Forecast Analyst at Forrester based in London.

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