What is the E-barometern?
The e-barometer is a report that Postnord in Sweden since 2006, produces together with HUI Research quarterly and yearly. The report looks at the development of the e-commerce industry in Sweden with its successes, setbacks and challenges. They also present some future predictions and look at what trends may come. First a look at the market as a whole and then breakdowns into seven different branches: home electronics, clothes & shoes, sports & leisure, building trades, furniture & home furnishings, groceries and pharmacies.
E-commerce in Sweden declined with 7% in 2022
It is the first time since Postnord started doing the E-barometer that e-commerce in Sweden declines a bit. What is highlighted as underlying factors is the households’ view of their own economy, which in the wake of the war in Ukraine and the rapid inflation became increasingly negative.
Another reason for the decline is that the pandemic, which ended in 2021, led to very high growth and with a normalized society results in a certain return to the shopping pattern that applied before the pandemic. 2022’s e-commerce turnover of 136 billion SEK still means a high level and an increase towards the first pandemic year 2020.
Many e-retailers have found it significantly more difficult to balance households’ increasingly smaller wallets at the same time that events in the outside world have driven costs up during the year. Most e-retailers therefore refrain from major investments in 2023, and may review and streamline their own organizations in order to sustain.
Only pharmacies, clothes and shoes show growth
E-pharmacies continue to grow their sales, which can be attributed to a change in consumption pattern that has persisted since the pandemic, where many elderly people likely realized how easy it is to get their medicine to their door instead of going to a physical pharmacy.
Although clothes & shoes have shown some growth, it is so small that the increasing overheads are likely to eat up much of the growth seen in the industry.
Overall, inflation has driven a type of artificial growth as increased prices also increase revenues but costs become higher and consumers also shop less overall.
As everything becomes more expensive, everyday luxuries might become more important
If you get less in the wallet and maybe won’t be able to go on that sun holiday or buy a new car, the little everyday luxuries might become what you do instead. This means that cheaper but slightly more luxurious goods can get a boost and also those items that add a small golden edge to everyday life.
This is where the importance of social commerce comes in. That is, shopping directly via a social media platform where both influencers and brands can speak directly to their customer and emphasize values that are difficult to obtain when selling via a marketplace. Both influencers’ contributions to e-commerce and social commerce have seen growth in 2022.
The second-hand market is getting a boost
When people have less in their wallets, the second -hand market for many goods is likely to increase. This may happen within product ranges such as home electronics, furniture and interior decoration, but also clothes and shoes can probably expect to lose a certain part of their current business to the second-hand market.
First-person data is the answer to the death of the third-party cookie
Working with your own e-commerce data is a key to success that we at Kvantic often highlight as a valuable way to grow your own business. Third party cookies are on the way out and will likely disappear completely in the next 2 years. As a company, then being ready with a robust and well-developed CRM can be decisive in order to continue to have a high effect in performance marketing. Implementation of thoughtful and effective measurement and tracking is therefore more important now than ever and should always be part of a company’s digital strategy.
Kvantic are specialists in Performance Marketing and all our employees have many years of experience in both B2b, B2c and D2c. If it’s time to review your digital strategy, get a higher effect on your digital marketing or if you are in need of a sounding board to ensure that you’re doing everything you can to reach your targets, feel free to get in touch and we’ll help you take the next step.