Spain’s e-commerce sector is one of the less developed in Europe, but it has been growing strongly. In 2019 we estimate that online spending grew by 23% to reach an estimated €15 billion, equivalent to 5.7% of all retail sales. Amazon leads, but the country is the focal point for European expansion by the Chinese online giant AliExpress, which was the second most shopped retailer in our research. 38% of Spanish adults had shopped there, compared to Amazon, where 88% had shopped in the last year. Grocery is very underdeveloped, accounting for around 1% of spending on food and drink. The grocers were overwhelmed by demand during the very strict COVID-19 lockdown, which has led many of them to accelerate development of their online service. Most large online retailers are from abroad – the Inditex and El Corte Inglés groups are the largest domestic retailers.

• The impact of COVID-19 on consumer behaviour and the online retail market

• How the market will fare in the post-COVID-19 slowdown

• What people buy online

• The performance of the major online retailers in 2019

• Online shopping behaviours and what consumers look for in online retailers.

This report is designed to give an overview of the Spanish online retail market. This includes a look at the market including forecasts for future developments, in-depth consumer analysis using our own data and a section on the key players in the market including our company profiles.

For our consumer research this year we asked questions on the following topics:

• Which products consumers have bought online in the last 12 months

• Frequency of shopping online

• The retailers used for online shopping in the last 12 months.

• Attitudes to different features of shopping online.