The Netherlands second year in a row gets a leading position

Study shows Europe leads global e-commerce market Source: shutterstock.com

Europe remains the most prepared region for e-commerce. Eight out of ten spots on the B2C E-commerce Index of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) are held by European countries, Ecommerce News reports.

The Netherlands leads the Business-to-Consumer E-commerce Index, followed by Switzerland. The only non-European countries in the top ten are Singapore reaching 3rd place and Australia in the 10th, respectively.

The analyzed countries scored on access to secure internet servers, the reliability of postal services, and infrastructure. What is more, they got succeed in the country’s share of Internet users and those who have an account with a financial institution or mobile-money-service provider.

For instance, in 6 European countries, over 80% of Internet users shop online. However, in the lowest and lower-middle-income countries, that proportion goes below 10%.

This year, Iceland and Sweden (just like New Zealand) dropped out of the top 10 list. UNCTAD says this is due to a decrease in their scores for secure servers and postal reliability. What is more, Sweden also dropped in the share of Internet users.

SEE ALSO:

• Brexit: what’s in it for businesses
• Top 4 things you need to know before starting a business in Asia
• 5AMLD: how the new EU legislation will affect crypto business