Jason Jeffries
03 March 2011
Online commerce in Western Europe appears set for years of strong growth, according to Forrester Research, which recently released a forecast predicting 10 percent compounded annual increases for the next five years.
By 2015, the research firm said, total annual sales for online retailers will reach €134 billion when business-to-consumer sales excluding financial services and travel are considered.
Patti Freeman Evans, Forrester vice president and research director, said several factors prompted the company to issue the positive forecast.
"In Europe, very strong growth in 2010 was fueled by new online buyers and higher spend per capita on the demand side, as well as the launch of transactional websites by established offline players," she said.
There appears to be a geographic split between Northern and Southern Europe, however. Forrester predicted that 80 percent of internet users in northern countries would make purchases online by 2015, compared to fewer than half in the south.
An increasing percentage of total retail transactions happening online will mean a proportional increase in the importance of online security, experts say.
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