The Eurostat ranking, with data for 2022, places Portugal among the five European Union countries with the lowest percentage of Internet users who bought products or services online.
The Portuguese are still at the back of Europe when it comes to e-commerce. Data compiled Tuesday by Eurostat for last year, place Portugal as one of the five countries in the European Union where the percentage of citizens who made online purchases among those who access the Internet was lowest.
The information from the European statistics office highlights the national delay in the adoption of online commerce, even after the impact of the pandemic. In 2021, only 62% of Portuguese respondents who had used the Internet in the 12 months prior to the survey said they had purchased products or services for personal use during that period. The Eurostat database does not show the percentage for 2022, but a chart published on Tuesday, comparing the evolution over the last decade, places Portugal among the five most behind in this trend.Percentage of respondents who bought products or services online in 2012 and 2022, among those who said they used the internet in the 12 months before the survey:
Only Italian, Cypriot, Romanian and Bulgarian internet users fared worse than the Portuguese on this indicator. The European average was close to 80%, but in Holland and Denmark the percentage of e-shoppers almost reached 100%.
The available information also shows that clothing, footwear and accessories continue to be the best-selling product category on the Internet in the European Union, followed by home-delivered meals. Cosmetics and beauty products are also in third place. The trend also shows a clear preference for products over services when shopping online.
