In 2024, Estonians ordered 17 million parcels at parcel machines domestically (from companies to individuals), which is 14% more than in 2023.
E-commerce already accounts for almost 25% of total retail trade
Statistics of the Estonian E-Commerce Association in cooperation with Omniva, DPD, Smartpost and Venipak. See also the monthly monitoring and trends of parcel volumes on the website of the E-Commerce Association under the news
Estonians believe in parcel machines — 80% of parcels are ordered from parcel machines (DPD and Emor research)
Various international studies show that almost 90% of the initial product/company searches and 60% of e-purchases are made via mobile phone (this is also confirmed by the summaries of the E-Monday campaigns).
The Internet is used by 4.5 billion people worldwide (annual increase of 7%), which is 59% of the total population and 90% in Estonia
The result of the monitoring of e-shops conducted in cooperation with the Estonian E-Commerce Association, Omniva and Smartpost, about half of which are operating/selling on a daily basis
Based on studies by the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority and the Estonian E-Commerce Association, 50% of Estonian e-shops do not 100% comply with all consumer rights under the law (here you can find the requirements: https://e-kaubanduseliit.ee/usaldusmargise-taotlemine/)
In Estonia, as of 2025, 210 e-shops have been approved to get the "Safe To Buy" trust mark
The Corona crisis increased the number of e-shoppers in Estonia by at least 50% (Customer analysis of the Payment Center)
In Estonia, it is estimated that 77% of the population makes e-purchases. The pandemic has increased this ratio — five years ago, the share of e-shoppers was ten percentage points lower. The most active e-shoppers are in the UK (95% of the population), the Netherlands and Norway (92%) and Denmark (90%). Of the euro area countries, the share of e-shoppers is more modest (just over half of the population) in southern Europe — Portugal (63%), Italy (57%) and Cyprus (55%). In Bulgaria and Romania, however, only less than half of the population makes e-purchases.
What has happened to the packaging volumes?
In 2020, due to the pandemic, e-commerce grew by 50% instead of the usual 20%. 9 million parcels ordered by companies by private individuals moved to parcel machines, and in 2024 already 17 million parcels.
Omniva holds the largest market share, 45% of the market volume, followed by DPD and Smartpost between 27-28%, depending on the month, and Venipak 3%. Unisend is also likely to become a significant market player in the coming years (since much of Temu's volume comes through them).
In general, concert, cinema and theater tickets are most often purchased online, which is as much as 42% of purchases. Electronics ranks second with 30%, clothing, footwear 25%, cosmetics 23%, furniture 23%, perfumes 21%, sporting goods 19%, toys and children's clothing 18%, groceries 12%, medicines 7%.
Sources: Ministry of Economy and Communications, Bank of Estonia, Statistics Office, Estonian E-Commerce Association, Kantar Emor, DPD, eCommerce Europe.
There is no clear definition of e-commerce in the European Union and the Member States - therefore the question is - should only e-goods or e-services go under this category? And if services, then what about air tickets, concert tickets or even lottery? Therefore, there is a bit of confusion here as to who measures what and how.
Additional information and suggestions:
Tõnu Väät, Chief Executive Officer of Estonian E-Commerce Association
Estonian E-Commerce Association brings together all the important e-commerce figures on its website, where you can always view both turnover, volumes and key indicators. If you are only interested in general numbers, then you do not have to go to different sources and databases. We cover only nationally recognized and accepted sources. You are now in the right place where important general numbers can be found.
Profiles of e-shoppers, or Statistics Estonia. In cooperation with Statistics Estonia, we have created a trade management table, which also automatically displays important numbers of e-commerce. To do this, go www.stat.ee and in the menu “Control Boards” from the top left, select “Trade”.
You will also see important trade and e-commerce numbers that can be found in the databases of Statistics Estonia. For example, household size, size of e-purchases per family member, regions, etc. statistical indicators. From time to time, it is also worth checking here on the website of the E-Commerce Association under the news about EMOR, Gemius, DPD and others, as well as the results of the surveys of our members, which nicely complement the results of the surveys of Statistics Estonia.
In order to find out the turnover of e-commerce, we have agreed with the Ministry of Economy and Communications to monitor e-commerce turnover, using, among other things, the data of The Bank of Estonia. Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications publishes e-commerce data once a year, in March.
It is important to know that under e-commerce turnover, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications brings out e-commerce turnover from both e-goods and e-services, i.e. when finding e-commerce turnover, e-purchases made with bank cards issued in Estonia and abroad and purchases made with bank cards issued outside Estonia are taken into account, and partly from Estonian e-shops and partly from bank link payment orders purchases made with and through open banking.
From purchases made through a bank link and open banking, payments for goods and services (entertainment, transport tickets, etc.) are included by Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications in the e-purchases indicator, payments made through the bank link for lottery tickets or other gambling, payments of state taxes or payments for financial services are not included in the indicator (insurance payments, loan repayments).
Statistics of The Bank of Estonia can be viewed on the website www.eestipank.ee by finding “statistics” under “statistics on the financial sector” “statistics on payment and settlement systems”.
The Statistics Estonia also collects statistics on the turnover and size of e-commerce companies (according to EMTAK code), we have agreed with the Statistics Estonia that this is not adequate, since the data comes only from those companies that have an obligation to provide e-sales, i.e. whose e-sales are greater than 50% or are 100% e-shops.
More than half of businesses and turnover are excluded from this statistic. The Estonian E-Commerce Association has monitored domains that use e-shop platforms and we have received about 9000 domains in Estonia that use the e-shop platform, which could be considered an e-shop.
Volumes of parcel machines in Estonia. In addition, the Estonian E-Commerce Association monitors the volume of parcels of Estonian parcel machines (B2C), i.e. only the volume within Estonia that Estonians order from companies (excluding shipments between individuals). To this end, according to the agreement, we monitor and receive the numbers of DPD, Smartpost, Omniva and Venipak, which we do not publish by company, but on the basis of which we compile the monthly market volumes of parcels of parcel machines, which can be found on the website of the E-Commerce Association under statistics and also in the current news.
International statistics. Together with 23 different European countries, we belong to eCommerce Europe organizations, where, in cooperation with various countries and professional organizations, we annually compile statistics on e-commerce covering the whole of Europe, which are available to the members of the Estonian E-Commerce Association through the collaborative effort.
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