This information is taken from an online commerce buyer survey published by the International Post Corporation (IPC). Posti published the results of a survey related to Finland today.
IPC’s annual cross-border e-commerce buyer survey received approximately 33,179 responses from e-commerce customers in 40 countries. There were 1,030 respondents in Finland.
โThere is a clear change going on in international e-commerce. E-commerce has grown throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and shoppers have now moved more to online stores in their home country and surrounding areas. The EU’s VAT reform came into force at the beginning of July, so its overall impact on the volume of products ordered from China in particular will not be seen until this year, โthe press release said. Kaj KulpDirector of Posti’s international e-commerce.
The role of EU countries is strengthening – Brexit and VAT reform explain the change
The United Kingdom withdrew from the EU on 1 January 2020. About a third (31%) of Finnish online shoppers feel that Brexit has influenced their purchases. European online shoppers are equally affected by Brexit. The rise in customs duties and the rise in product prices are the most significant changes experienced by consumers.
Another major change was the VAT reform for e-commerce, which took effect across the EU at the beginning of July 2021. With the reform, all consignments from outside the EU will be subject to customs clearance and will be subject to VAT. Products previously ordered from outside the EU with a value of up to โฌ 22 were exempt from VAT. Almost half (43%) of Finnish online shoppers feel that their purchases have been affected by the VAT reform. Increased customs clearance fees, higher product prices and the workload related to the various stages of customs clearance have had the greatest impact on the purchasing behavior of Finns.
Germany narrowly overtook China as the most popular
The most popular countries for Finnish consumers in international online shopping are Germany (42%), China (40%) and Sweden (24%). These are followed by the United Kingdom (19%), the United States (18%) and Estonia (7%).
Germany increased its share of Finnish online shoppers’ purchases by 5 percentage points over the past year, surpassing China for the first time in the history of the survey. Correspondingly, the share of China decreased by 9 percentage points and that of the United Kingdom by 5 percentage points.
In the countries favored by Finns, almost half of the online stores in Germany and more than 60% in Sweden are delivered in less than a week.
40% of Finns received free delivery for online purchases ordered from abroad, while the corresponding figure in other countries is already 60%.
In the future, the growth of e-commerce in Finland will come from Finland and its neighboring areas
The interest of Finns in the supply of Finnish online shops has increased throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and the growth shows no signs of stagnation. The majority of Finns (68%) plan to buy more from domestic online stores in the future. The surrounding areas are also growing in popularity. Half (49%) of Finns plan to increase their online shopping from neighboring countries and 54% from EU countries. Similarly, more than half plan to reduce their online purchases from China and the UK.
Global platform giants dominate e-commerce – Amazon is gaining popularity in Finland as well
13% of Finns who shopped from foreign online stores reported shopping from Amazon and the Chinese Wish online store. About 10% said they had made purchases from Zalando, eBay and AliExpress. Amazon has steadily grown in popularity in Finland as Wish’s popularity has declined. Zalando’s popularity also grew last year.
As many as a quarter of Europeans’ most recent online purchases came from Amazon, a fifth from Alibaba / AliExpress and 10% from eBay.
As many as a third of Finnish respondents would be interested in joining the Amazon Prime membership program if it were available in Finland. Amazon Prime is mainly used by consumers in the United States (73%), Spain (68%) and Italy (66%).
Swedes, Estonians and Danes buy from Finnish online stores
The products of Finnish online stores are mainly delivered to neighboring areas. 14% of Swedish and Estonian online shoppers who responded to the survey mentioned their most recent purchase in Finland. Danish consumers were in third place (11%).
The main reason for buying foreign online shoppers in Finnish online stores is that the desired product is not available elsewhere. Fast delivery appeals to 38% of respondents and 36% cite the low price of the product as the reason.
Source: Post
Source: The Nordic Page