53% of European retail sales will be claimed by e-commerce over the next five years

More than half (53%) of European retail sales over the next five years will be claimed by e-commerce, according to a new report  « European Cross-Channel Retail Sales Forecast, 2015 To 2020 » from Forrester Research.  This means that digital will influence €947 billion in Europe (including a combination of online sales and offline sales influenced by online research). The value of cross-channel retail sales in Europe will reach €704bn (£498bn) by 2020, up from €457bn (£323bn) this year. It defines such purchases as those that consumers begin using a digital channel, but do not complete online.

The shift will be more felt in Northern than Southern European countries, while the UK will have the largest proportion of web-impacted sales by 2020.