{"id":9009,"date":"2022-10-06T08:40:15","date_gmt":"2022-10-06T06:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eurotext.de\/en\/?p=9009"},"modified":"2024-09-30T08:49:04","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T06:49:04","slug":"e-commerce-in-sweden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eurotext.de\/en\/blog\/e-commerce-in-sweden\/","title":{"rendered":"E-commerce in Sweden"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you think of Sweden<\/strong>, you probably picture the incredible natural landscapes, the northern lights, and forests filled with fir trees. And if not that, then you\u2019re most likely thinking of the famous blue and yellow furniture manufacturer who has helped make Scandinavian design a global phenomenon. But Sweden has much more to offer than furniture and forests. It is actually an extremely modern, digital country that is the birthplace of a number of global corporations, including (of course) Ikea<\/strong>, the fashion retailer H&M<\/strong>, the music streaming service Spotify<\/strong>, and the payment services provider Klarna<\/strong>, just to name a few.\u00a0Klarna, especially, is a familiar name in the world of e-commerce \u2014 and Sweden is a country that loves e-commerce. Continue reading to learn more about Swedish consumers and how they shop online, what they expect from online shops, what to look out for when targeting Swedish customers.<\/p>\n

Sweden and its inhabitants<\/h2>\n

Sweden is located in the north of Europe<\/strong>, stretching over the eastern part of the Scandinavian peninsula and the islands Gotland and \u00d6land. It borders Norway and Finland and connects to Denmark at the \u00d6resund Bridge. Two-thirds of the country is indeed covered with forests, fields and wilderness\u2014 as one might imagine \u2014 but it also has the largest population of all the Scandinavian countries, with over 10 million inhabitants.<\/strong> However, those inhabitants are spread\u00a0 across 529,000 square kilometres<\/strong>, making Sweden one of the countries with the lowest population density in Europe, alongside Iceland, Russia, Norway and Finland.<\/p>\n

Sweden\u2019s GDP in 2021 was US$627.44B, and it is a country that is known for its high quality of life. It has ranked high in a number of different quality of life indexes for many years.<\/p>\n

Swedish Government and the EU<\/h2>\n

Sweden is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy. Its head of government is the prime minister, while the head of state is the monarch. The government exercises executive power while the single-chamber parliament holds legislative power.<\/p>\n

Sweden has been a member of the European Union<\/strong> since 1995, but it has kept the Swedish Krona (SEK)<\/strong> as its currency. It is eligible to join the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), but the Swedish Parliament<\/strong> has voted not to change to the euro<\/strong>. This is not expected to change in the near future.<\/p>\n

Language<\/h2>\n

Sweden is a Scandinavian country, also referred to as the Nordics<\/strong> in the e-commerce industry. But although this might make it sound like the region forms a single, unified target group, there is no single \u201cScandinavian\u201d or \u201cNordic\u201d language. Online retailers who want to attract customers in the Nordics need to bear in mind that each individual country has its own language: Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Finnish.<\/p>\n

The official language in Sweden is Swedish, of course, but certain regions of Swedish also use the languages Finish<\/strong>, the Me\u00e4nkieli<\/strong> dialect, and the Sami language. Most people in Sweden speak excellent English, but they still prefer to do their online shopping in their native language whenever possible. This makes it a good idea to have your website translated into Swedish if you want to attract Swedish customers.<\/p>\n

Internet and digitalisation<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>85% of Sweden\u2019s population lives in the south of the country, primarily in the three major cities: Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malm\u00f6<\/strong>. The northern part of the country is sparsely populated and has somewhat worse infrastructure as a result.<\/p>\n

Sweden has a digitally-adept population with approximately 93-98% broadband internet access. In 2021, 79% of the population used mobile internet from a laptop, notebook or tablet computer, while 92% of Swedes accessed the internet via mobile phones.<\/p>\n

A nearly cashless society<\/h2>\n

Consumers in Sweden pay for nearly everything digitally, using debit cards or other digital payment methods. 99.7% of Swedes have a bank account, and the use of cash as a currency is plummeting. 41.5% of online transactions are paid for using cards, and bank transfers are another popular means of payment. Digital bank transfer payment apps like Swish are also growing in popularity, as is the buy-now-pay-later payment services provider Klarna, which is based in Sweden but popular throughout Europe. Digital wallets such as Google Pay and PayPal are also much-loved by the Swedes.<\/p>\n

The e-commerce market in Sweden<\/h2>\n

With a turnover of US$16 billion in 2021<\/strong>, Sweden comes in 19th in the list of the largest e-commerce markets worldwide, landing in between Poland and Turkey in the list. The Swedish e-commerce market has been growing consistently for years, but the last two years since the pandemic have resulted in a particularly large jump in e-commerce shopping.<\/p>\n

7.6 million Swedes \u2014 about 76% of the population<\/strong> \u2014 made at least one online purchase in 2021. 34% of Swedish consumers have also made cross-border purchases.<\/p>\n

Although Swedes have a high GDP (and therefore a generally comfortable financial situation), they spend somewhat less than average on online purchases, with an average of 1,932 euros per person compared to a European average of 2,364 euros<\/strong>. This, along with the 76% adoption rate, indicates that there is still plenty of room for growt<\/strong>h in Sweden\u2019s e-commerce market.<\/p>\n

Most popular products for e-commerce<\/h2>\n

According to a study in 2021, the following product categories were purchased most frequently online:<\/p>\n