With a turnover of 570 billion euros by 2025, the European e-commerce market represents a highly profitable sector where marketplaces have always played a leading role.
In this article, we will discover the main marketplaces in Europe in 2022.
The European marketplace landscape
Before discovering the ranking of the top marketplaces in Europe, it is useful to analyze some characteristics of this territory.
Europe is composed of 51 independent states and has a population of 748.1 million inhabitants. The countries that make it up are famous for their diverse cultural characteristics, which are also reflected in e-commerce. In fact, it is essential for international brands and retailers to pay particular attention to the unique characteristics and preferences of consumers in each European market in order to expand successfully.
The turnover of the European e-commerce market reached 465 billion euros in 2021, with an increase of 30% compared to before the pandemic, and it is expected to reach a value of 570 billion euros by 2025. In addition, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Spain entered the top ten of the most profitable e-commerce markets for sales worldwide in 2021.
The number of e-commerce consumers in Europe has steadily increased in recent years. From 286 million in 2019 to 293 million consumers in 2020 to 297 million in 2021. An important reason, of course, has been the Covid-19 pandemic, which has left its mark on all European countries. At the same time, the trend was already underway before the pandemic, thanks to ambitious digital infrastructure development in many parts of Europe.
In the last ten years, internet penetration rates in the European Union (EU) have grown to reach 91% in 2020.
According to Statista, this figure remained largely unchanged in 2021 (92%).
Among the most interesting geographical markets in Europe, we find Germany, France, and Italy. Germany has an internet user rate of 79.13%, France records 64.2%, and Italy has 54.8%.
The product category for which Europeans spent the most online is Clothing and Footwear ($175 billion), followed by Electronics ($117 billion) and Books and Audiobooks ($109 billion)¹.
Where to sell in Europe: the ranking of the top 10 marketplaces
1# AMAZON
Unsurprisingly, Amazon strengthens its status as the leading online marketplace in Europe. Jeff Bezos’ platform records over one billion monthly visits, leaving the others far behind.
2# EBAY
In second place, with 664.8 million monthly visits, we find eBay. Ranked among the top 25 most visited sites in the world, eBay sells in almost 30 countries and hosts 1 billion items of any category, including fashion, home and garden, auto parts, technology.
3# ALLEGRO
Bronze medal for the Polish marketplace Allegro with 185.5 million visits. Born in ’99 as an auction site, it has evolved into an online marketplace thanks to its enormous variety of products. In addition to this, the adoption of the Polish currency (złoty) and the possibility of paying on delivery make Allegro the most reliable marketplace in Poland. In addition to the giants in the world of clothing and sports articles such as Adidas, Nike, Abercrombie, Tommy Hilfiger, and Timberland, more than 125,000 sellers are present on the Polish marketplace.
4# AliExpress
In fourth place is the Chinese platform AliExpress, with 180.9 million monthly visits. AliExpress is a platform that hosts small independent retailers, owned by Alibaba. Born to offer visibility to small Chinese companies globally, today it is also open to retailers of other nationalities (including Italy, Spain, Turkey, Russia).
5# WILDBERRIES
In fifth place, we find Wildberries, with 149.9 million monthly visits. It is the largest online retailer in Russia, operating in 19 countries, including Italy since March 2021. The Russian marketplace hosts 80,000 brands of various product categories and stands out for its efficient deliveries. One of its strengths are the pick-up points, which unlike other marketplaces, have been structured as real stores equipped with fitting rooms.
6# ZALANDO
With over 131 million monthly visits, the sixth place goes to Zalando which reaffirms itself as the top fashion shopping destination in Europe. Currently, the marketplace operates in 23 European countries and has over 44 million active users.
7# OZON
In seventh place, with 86.2 million monthly visits, we find another Russian marketplace Ozon, founded in 1998, which is one of the main multi-category e-commerce platforms. The platform has over 6 million products in 24 categories, offered by over 13,000 sellers. Currently, Ozon receives about 30 million orders per year. It ships over 100,000 packages per day to approximately 6,500 cities throughout Russia.
7# BOL.COM
Eighth place goes to Bol.com, with 79.9 million monthly visits throughout Europe. It is the most visited marketplace in the Netherlands, one of the few areas in Europe where a local player outperforms the powerful Amazon. To get an idea of its popularity, it is sufficient to consider that while Bol.com receives an average of around 61 million monthly visits, Amazon receives “only” an average of 17 million. The Dutch marketplace owes its success to its wide range of products, fast shipping, and competitive prices.
9# ETSY
Ninth place goes to Etsy, the marketplace specializing in retail sales of handmade and vintage items, considered one of the top online shops worldwide. Although the United States is the market that generates most of its annual sales, Etsy is also active in 16 other countries worldwide and in Europe, it has a whopping 59.1 million monthly visits.
10# OTTO
Closing the ranking in tenth place, there is the German platform Otto with 55 million monthly visits. It is a generalist site active in over 20 countries. Otto offers almost 2 million products and targets an audience of over 6 million active customers.
Similarweb data
1. PostNord Ecommerce in Europe 2021
Many Italian brands use the YOCABÈ platform to sell online in Europe without having to worry about translations, shipping, publishing catalogs in different languages, and international invoicing.
