European Ecommerce in 2014

At Forward Partners we're investing in early stage ecommerce startups. We believe that there are huge opportunities in the sector.

Underpinning the opportunity are a number of trends;

Improved connectivity; high speed broadband and mobile networks to become ubiquitous
Improved access; smartphones bringing a a computer to every pocket
Improved relevance; predictive artificial intelligence delivering personalised offerings
Continued convenience; innovations in parcel delivery and collection
Lower inventory risk; on demand production, drop shipping and 3D printing

Here's some data to give you a sense of the current ecommerce space....

816 million people in Europe.
264 million (32%) shop online (versus 16% globally)
c. 645,000 online businesses
3,700,000,000+ parcels sent annually
16.3% European growth in ecommerce year on year

The top 3 European ecommerce countries

UK €107bn // 29.4%
Germany €64bn // 17.4%
France €51bn // 14%

The top 3 represent 61% of spend.

Source: ecommerce Europe

Ecommerce is a term that will seem dated in a few years. The fact is that commerce is undergoing a revolution in the information age and we're right in the middle of that change. Pretty soon, it will be "commerce", we'll have dropped the E (no pun intended) and the landscape of business will have changed forever.

I'm excited to be a small part of it.