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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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.

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Finland's e-commerce is growing. Currently, it is the 38th largest market for e-commerce, with a predicted revenue of US$8,215.4 million by 2023, placing it ahead of Nigeria.

Revenue is expected to show a compound annual growth rate (CAGR 2023-2027) of 8.8%, resulting in a projected market volume of US$11,509.1 million by 2027.

Finland is steadily growing as an attractive market for e-commerce brands and companies. But what drives the Finish consumers? The main factor influencing the willingness to buy is quality. 

The origin of the product or brand is also important. The Finnish also look at whether a given product complies with European standards. 

It is proof of quality for them. Prices in Finland are quite high, making the average shopping cart more expensive. The e-commerce sector is constantly developing and accounts for up to 10% of all purchases from retailers. Finns use the intent not only to shop but also to compare prices. 

Domestic products are in demand, and one effect of global brands is gaining more and more fans. For these consumers, user experience is very important therefore, if you want to conquer the Finnish market, you must take care of it.

Ecology is becoming an increasingly important factor influencing the purchasing decisions of Finnish consumers. Sales of food and organic products are growing. Respect for the environment is fundamental to Finns. The second-hand market, including the Internet market, is also increasing.

Payment methods for Finland’s e-commerce

In Finland, banks transfer dominates the payment market. Verkkopankki is a bank transfer system that has won the hearts of Finnish consumers. As many as 76% of Finns believe the possibility of making direct payments with the bank is very important. 

Despite the clear favoring of bank transfers, banks are trying to diversify their payment offer. Consumers are afraid to pay with cards for online purchases because it requires providing data – 16% of Finns cite precisely concerns about the security of data in terms of preferred payment methods.

Finns are very distrustful about payment and their data. Unfortunately, this is due to the increase in this type of crime in the country. 

Digital payments are implemented gradually – digital wallets account for about 12% of payments. PayPal dominates in this field – it covers 10% of payments in e-commerce.

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The three announced their collaboration to offer consumers an ‘afterwards payment method’ on AliExpress. The "Pay Later" solution from Klarna is for now only available for AliExpress customers in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Finland. The goal is to add more countries during the course of this year.

More options in checkout

Michael Rouse, CCO of Klarna, is happy with the collaboration and the fact that shoppers now have more options during the checkout process. He emphasises that this is only the first phase of the collaboration. Klarna is looking forward to expanding to other markets in the short term, along with Alipay, Adyen and AliExpress as well.

Cheer Zhang is responsible for international expansion projects at Alibaba. He says they are constantly looking for ways to improve the customer experience of the popular B2C marketplace AliExpress. “Klarna's Pay Later has proven to be one of the most popular solutions in the European market. We are excited to now add this payment method to our checkout in multiple countries.”

When ordering something from Aliexpress in Europe, it is not unusual for orders to arrive after a full month. This is why it can take a while for retailers to receive their money when a customer chooses for Klarna’s payment method.

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The four markets have to deal with some cross-border shopping elements. Usually, cross-border consumers in the Nordic region shop abroad from China, the United Kingdom and Germany. Only on Norway, the consumers tend to prefer to buy cross-border from the American market. This may have something to do with the fact that eBay is very popular among Norwegian consumers. In Denmark, the United Kingdom is the favorite cross-border shopping destination, while the Swedes prefer Germany. When looking at a cross-border level in the Nordic region only, Sweden is for foreign consumers the most interesting market to shop cross-border. Especially the Finnish consumers are keen on shopping from Swedish shops

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Now, e-tailers need to find innovative new ways to personalise their offerings so they can build a loyal customer base- and they’re going to need to harness customer data to do it. The buzz around big data has been ringing in our ears for a while - but it’s time to grasp the bull by the horns. Although investing in new technology too heavily has been the pitfall of many, the other critical error has been leaving it too late. Customers expect to be able to have a personalised experience from a cohesive brand across all channels. But how can retailers strike the right balance when it comes to upgrading their online commerce?

In Q2 of 2018, WBR Insights surveyed 100 Directors of E-commerce from across the Nordics to find out more about the challenges they’re facing and the innovative solutions being brought to the table. The results are presented in this benchmark report with analysis and commentary by the eTail Nordic community. Download the full report below.

Download

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Despite the great promise of mobile payment solutions, cash money will remain important in the coming years. There are some Western European countries, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Sweden for example, where the role of cash money changes the most. This appears from a newly published research by PYMNTS.

If predictions are to believed, the first cashless societies are in the making. A major step in this is the embrace of digital payment instruments. In the near future, a large part of consumers is expected to switch to paying by using their mobile phone. Although this implies that cash money will be used less and less, figures do not indicate this. This is shown by a report from PYMNTS in which it looks ahead over the next five years.

Compared to those Western European countries, the share of cash money in the Netherlands is relatively small. Just over seven percent of the total. There are only two Western European countries where people pay even less by using cash money. These countries are Sweden, where the share of cash is only six percent, and Switzerland, where cash is used in only five percent of all payments.

The fact that the share of cash money is not that big does not mean that cash is disappearing. The payment company that commissioned the report also let PYMNTS look at the actual use of cash. With the growth of economies, the use of cash also increases considerably. The use of cash money will increase with 0.7 percent until 2021 in the fifteen Western European countries. This trend is not equally observed in all countries. In some countries, the use of cash money grows extensively and in other countries, the use of cash is decreasing.The two Western European countries where the use of cash decreases most are Ireland and Finland. As the European Central Bank (ECB) concluded last year, mobile payments are on the rise. However, three-quarters of all payments at European cash registers are still made in cash. 

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The research by Ecommerce Europe indicates that the United Kingdom (€178 billion), France (€93,2 billion) and Germany (€93 billion) dominate the European market, accounting for over two-thirds of the total European e-commerce turnover. Looking at popular websites, it is not surprising to see that Amazon and eBay are dominating the market. The research, however, shows that Alibaba Group is slowly moving in from the Eastern countries.

European Cross-border shopping 
Looking at cross-border e-commerce, Macedonia and Portugal are the countries where cross-border online purchases take place most (both 85 percent), followed by Luxembourg (79 percent), Switzerland (64 percent) and Iceland (63 percent). The fastest grower in the cross-border market is Slovenia (6 percent), followed by Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, and Finland (5 percent) last year. In total, 38 percent of all online shoppers in Europe did a cross-border order in 2017.

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Mobile commerce becomes an increasingly important tool for Nordic online shoppers. The smartphone is used for more purposes when shopping online. Researching, checking stock and price tags, asking for advice and of course, purchasing are the main reasons to shop whit a mobile device. Almost 36 percent of Nordic consumers said they made one or more purchases with their phone, which is much higher than the 26 percent of 2016.

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