Swedes' online shopping increased by a whopping 17 percent in 2022. At least if you include travel purchases - an industry that took revenge after two tough pandemic years.
This is shown by the report "Swedish E-commerce" from the payment company Nets.
Online shopping in Sweden increased by a whopping 17 percent in 2022 to a total of SEK 277 billion. That's a long way from the pre-pandemic record of SEK 310 billion, but better than you might think if you only focus on the sale of physical goods.
It is travel purchases that caused total online shopping among private individuals to rise last year. The category almost doubled in 2022, according to the Swedish E-commerce report from payment company Nets.
”Online shopping is almost back to pre-pandemic levels, driven by a very strong return to travel. But then you have to take into account that record-high inflation is helping to increase sales,” says Patrik Müller, e-commerce expert at Nordic payment company Nets, which is now part of the Italian listed company Nexi with operations in 25 countries.
Physical products still make up the largest share of e-commerce. However, trade decreased in 2022 for the second year in a row, from SEK 143.3 billion to SEK 133.9 billion. This corresponds to a decline of 7 percent.
”"During the pandemic year of 2020, the product category increased by a full 30 percent to a record of 150 billion kronor. Since then, Swedes' online trade in products has decreased. People are once again shopping in physical stores and are adjusting their spending to the economic situation," continues Patrik Müller.
Within the products category, there are certainly both winners and losers for 2022.
Clothing increases for the second year in a row, from 20.2 to 23.7 billion kronor. However, groceries decrease significantly, from 28.8 to 21.9 billion kronor. Pharmacy products, which are the third largest and also the subcategory that by far the most Swedes shop in, increase by one billion to 9.8 billion kronor. Home electronics decline sharply for the second year in a row, from just over 12 to 7 billion kronor, according to the report.
However, the travel sector is making the strongest comeback. Swedes' online travel purchases increased from nearly SEK 53 billion in 2021 to just over SEK 98 billion in 2022. That's almost a doubling.
The category is predicted to have more to offer this year. However, in a normal year before the pandemic, this category accounted for around half of total e-commerce, with a turnover of SEK 150 billion.
”"That we travel significantly more now than during the pandemic is no surprise. A strong desire to travel again also stands in the way of climate focus and tighter budgets, and it will be interesting to see if the category continues to grow again this year," says Patrik Müller.
Charter travel increased by a whopping 144 percent to SEK 21.5 billion. Air travel doubled in comparison and purchases of hotel services rose from SEK 15.9 to SEK 23.7 billion. Cruises, which have had an extremely tough time during the pandemic, increased by 330 percent, to SEK 4.3 billion.
The service category, which includes both streaming services and event tickets, saw a strong upswing already in 2021. The category increased from SEK 41.1 to 45 billion last year.
Despite more activities outside the home for Swedes, streaming services increased from 9.1 to 9.9 billion kronor between 2021 and 2022. Tickets to cultural and sporting events, which recorded the largest percentage improvement in the full year 2021, continued to increase by almost one billion in 2022.
Charity doubled from SEK 2.4 billion to SEK 4.9 billion. However, online gambling decreased from SEK 4.4 billion to SEK 2.7 billion, according to the report.
”"Services are increasing again because there is a continued pent-up need among Swedes to attend cultural and sporting events. However, people are gambling less online, but on the other hand they gave significantly more to charity, which probably reflects the Swedes' commitment to the relief efforts in war-torn Ukraine," says Patrik Müller.
How is it going this year? Patrik Müller believes that most arrows are pointing in the wrong direction.
”"Travel looks set to continue to rise this year. But online purchases of physical goods look set to decline, even though we have inflation driving up sales," he says.
At the same time, he emphasizes that Swedes' online habits are here to stay.
”"We see that 90 percent of Swedes have shopped online in the last four weeks," he says.
Source: DI.SE
