E-commerce in Estonia

E-commerce

Internet access

Estonia has a high internet penetration rate, at 91.4% (out of a population of 1.3 million). The smartphone penetration rate is estimated to be slightly above 50%. Estonia ranks 10th in the EU's Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) 2018 based on European Commission data. Estonia topped the rankings in online public services and scored above the EU average in digital skills of the population and internet usage. Statista estimates that 99% of Estonian 25-34 year-olds, and 95% of 35-44 year-olds connect to the internet on a daily basis. The older generations also log on regularly with 45-54 year-olds and over 55s showing an 86% and 74% daily penetration rate, respectively. The most popular web search engines in Estonia are Google (95.7%), Bing and Yandex RU (1.7% and 0.8% respectively).

E-commerce market

According to Statistics Estonia, in 2017 post and online retail grew by 37% compared to the previous year (whereas normal retail grew by 6% only). Sales of goods by post and online amounted to EUR 239.4 million. However, the proportion of postal and online retail compared to the total retail market value (EUR 6.32 billion) is still low, at 3.6% in 2017. More than 58% of Estonians aged between 16 and 74 have used e-commerce. The most popular types of goods bought online are: travel and accommodation services (purchased by 61% of e-shoppers), concert, cinema and theatre tickets (57%), clothing and sports equipment (49%). 85% of e-commerce users purchased products from Estonian sellers, 45% from the EU and 41% from other countries (2017). Statistics Estonia estimates that there are around 6,000 e-stores in the country. The majority of online shoppers in Estonia prefer to buy via desktop. The most visited local B2B online shops are Kaup24, On24, Hansapost, 1a and Shoppa. The main B2G website is Eesti. The most common payment methods used for online purchases are internet bank payments through a bank link service (56%), card payments (13%) and e-wallet solutions like PayPal (9%). Facebook has 640,000 users in Estonia, Instagram is less popular, with 290,000 users (this social network is used mainly by younger groups of people, with more than 90% of its Estonian users being under 45). The most popular messaging app is Facebook Messenger. Russian-speakers favour Russian social media, especially Odnoklassniki and VKontakte.