Spain - Country Commercial Guide
eCommerce
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General Overview

During 2022, eCommerce users reached nearly 32 million in Spain, representing a market penetration rate of 68%. Growth is expected to continue, as eCommerce users increase by another 25% to 40 million by 2025.

In 2022, approximately 22% of Spanish companies made sales online through websites and applications, an increase of more than 6% of previous year.

According to a press release by Spanish National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC), eCommerce turnover in 2022 in Spain reached a total of $72 billion (€67 billion), up 25% from last year and totaling 5.7% of GDP.

In terms of geographical segmentation, 41.9% of revenue was originated in Spain (31.5% within Spain and 10.4% from abroad to Spain) and 58.1% from Spain to abroad.

Consumer-to-consumer online transactions has extended in Spain. There are currently numerous examples of applications like Wallapop, Vinted, Milanuncios, Vibbo. More than 30% of internet users are currently buying or selling through these channels.

Top Products

During the last quarter of 2022, the eCommerce sectors with the highest percentage of revenue were:

  • travel agencies (7%)
  • clothing (6.9%)
  • air transportation (5%)

The activity sectors with the highest number of total eCommerce transactions were:

  • gambling (7.4%)
  • food/restaurants (6.6%)
  • land transport of passengers (6%)

Other leading segments include telecommunications, home appliances, sports, toys, and health and beauty.

Legal & Regulatory

Please visit this website (https://digitalpolicyalert.org/countries/spain) concerning digital regulation in Spain.

Consumer Behavior

The gender split of online shoppers in Spain is 50% male and 50% female. In terms of age breakdown, the following groups of users were most heavily engaged in online transactions in 2022:

  • 35 to 44 (5.5 million)
  • 45 to 54 (5.4 million)
  • 25 to 34 (4.5 million)

The frequency of online purchases are as follows:

  • once a month (30%)
  • once every two weeks (25%)
  • once a week (19%)

Average expenditure for each purchase in online marketplace in Spain in 2022 was between $30 (€27.90) and $55 (€51.15) (39%) and $55 (€51.15) to $110 (€102.31) (34%). Usual payment method offered are debit cards, digital wallets (mainly Paypal), and credit cards.

2022 statistics on the most visited online marketplaces place three websites as controlling most customer hits:

  • Amazon.es (54%),
  • Aliexpress (18%), and
  • El Corte Inglés (6%).

In terms of revenue, Amazon is also the leader of online marketplace sales in Spain, with the following statistics:

  • Amazon - $5.3 billion (€4.9 billion),
  • El Corte Inglés - $1.4 billion (€1.3 billion), and
  • Shein - $858 million (€798 million).

Leading shopping apps in Spain in 2022 by number of downloads provide a slight different picture:

  • Shein (6.3 million),
  • Amazon (4.3 million),
  • Wallapop (3 million),
  • Vinted (2.4 million),
  • Milanuncios (2.3 million), and
  • Aliexpress (2.2 million).

Stated reasons by customers for purchasing through online marketplaces include diversity of products and brands, better prices, opinions of other buyers, convenience, and management of orders.