Foreign websites dominate the Estonian e-commerce market

The Estonian e-commerce market continues to grow. Compared to 2017, the volume of online purchases made with debit cards increased by more than 50%. Estonian sellers only slightly benefit, as large international players dominate the market, research by SEB shows.

Major platforms such as AliExpress and Amazon are most popular among Estonian consumers. Only about 40% of the local consumers shops on local e-commerce webshops. Local webshops' market share has increased from 6% in 2017 to 11% at the end of 2019.

The fastest-growing Estonian e-commerce markets are ridesharing and food courier services. There is a significant increase in the number of online purchases at shopping centres that offer home delivery as well.

Average order value

The number of online purchases by debit card increased over the last years even though the average order value slightly decreased. In 2017, orders had an average value of €40,-. In 2019, this fell to €33,-. 'E-commerce statistics show that people have started to buy more online. This means that e-commerce is now more of a part of our daily lives, while, on average, purchases are made in smaller amounts,' says Ainar Leppänen, Member of the Management Board of SEB.

Payment methods

The Estonian population is digital-savvy. It appears they are proficient users of payment instruments such as bank links, credit and debit cards and PayPal. 'Each customer has found the payment instrument that suits them best,' highlights Ainar Leppänen.