The Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism has presented the Study on Electronic Commerce B2C 2013, carried out by the National Observatory of Telecommunications and the Information Society (ONTSI). The data in this report reveals that the eCommerce B2C continues to expand, with an increase of 18% in 2013 Over the previous year. This rise is 4,6 percentage points higher than that experienced in 2012, which amounted to 13,4%.
This e-commerce growth This is due both to the increase in the number of buyers via the Internet and to the increase in average spending per buyer. The number of Internet buyers has gone from 15,2 million in 2012 to 17,2 million in 2013, representing an increase of 14%. For its part, average spending increased by 2013% in 3,9 to 848 euros compared to 816 in 2012. The continued growth of the Internet user population, which represents 73,1% of the population, also contributes to the expansion of eCommerce. Spanish over 15 years, which is 3,2% more than in 2012.
The report was presented by Cesar Miralles, general director of Red.es, and Elena Gomez de Pozuelo, president of the Spanish Association of the Digital Economy (ADIGITAL), within the framework of the EEC 2014, in which this year FICOD is present, due to the strong commitment of this Forum to enhance the talent of entrepreneurs and support eCommerce channels in Spain.
Online buyer profile
El internet buyer profile it is similar to that of the Internet user population in general, with a predominance of buyers aged 25 to 49 residing in urban areas with more than 100.000 inhabitants.
Regarding the frequency of purchase, 14,9% of Internet buyers do so on a monthly basis. In addition, the number of categories purchased is 3,7 and the number of purchase processes 10,51.
El Home is still the preferred place to perform buy online (92,3%) and, for the first time, they preferred to buy through mobile devices (4,4% of purchases) than from job (3,3%).
For the second year in a row, websites that sell mainly over the Internet are ranked as the main purchase channel (52,6%), followed by companies that combine physical and virtual stores (39,3%) and sites from the manufacturer (35,5%).
All the Credit and debit cards They continue to be the preferred form of payment when making the purchase (52,8%), although their use decreases 10,1 percentage points in relation to 2012. However, the use of exclusively electronic payment platforms used in 28,4% of transactions. The least used payment methods include direct debit and cash on delivery (17,1%), as well as other payment methods (1,6%) and mobile phone (0,2%).
Products that continue to lead the online business are those of the tourism sector, transport tickets (59,4%) and accommodation reservations (51,6%), followed by the purchase of clothing, accessories and sporting goods (49,6%) and the purchase of tickets to shows (49,1%).
Alternative forms of eCommerce: mCommerce
In 2013, the number of Internet users who bought products or services through mobile devices (mCommerce), reaching 4,4 million people, which represents an increase of 13,8% compared to 2012 and 25,6% of Internet buyers. 68,1% of those who used mobiles or tablets to make purchases consider that these devices are adequate to do so, while for 6,3% they are not due to the greater difficulty in navigation (61,8%), because they are not All the options on the website are included (39,1%) or due to poor visualization (36,8%).
Among the items purchased in mCommerce Physical products (61,8%), digital content (58,1%) and services such as transport, event tickets or insurance (53,8%) stand out, and as in eCommerce, buyers predominate men (60,7%) between 35 and 49 years old (41,2%).
Regarding the use of mobile apps, 32,2% of online shopping Internet users who use a tablet or mobile phone, have acquired a payment app on the Internet, the ones that have had the greatest success, those corresponding to messaging (47,2%), games (30,9%) and entertainment (30,1%). Mobile is the main destination (66,9%), while 10,4% of Internet users bought apps for their tablet and 22,7% did so for both devices.
Another fact that stands out is that 11,9% of Internet buyers are subscribed to some digital content service, predominantly music, video and the press. The PC continues to be the preferred means of consultation followed by mobile phones, tablets and Smart TVs.
Maturity of the eCommerce sector in Spain
There has been an increase in purchase incidents. 11,1% of buyers say they have had a problem: defective shipments (26,4%), non-receipt of the product (26,1%) or delay in delivery (11,6%) stand out.
Among the reasons for making online purchases, time and convenience savings (60,9%) and price (38,6%) continue to lead. Among the reasons that stop purchases, non-buyer Internet users highlight their preference to see the product in the store (74,5%) and buyers consider shipping costs (58,3%) as the main drawback.
Study on Electronic Commerce B2C 2013
El Study on Electronic Commerce B2C 2013 It is published on the ONTI website. To read and download it, press here.