Spain goes digital: 16% growth

The value of e-commerce in Spain last year was over 84 billion euros, an increase of 16.3 percent compared to 2022. Most digital trade transactions are international: in the last quarter, Spaniards spent almost 60 percent of the money they spent online abroad.

This is according to data from the CNMC (Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia), the national market and competition authority in Spain. To promote trade, the watchdog also conducts market analyses, among other things.

The largest sectors online

The CNMC uses a broad definition of e-commerce in Spain. Within this sector, travel agencies and tour operators constitute the largest sector, accounting for 8.5% of all e-commerce in the fourth quarter of 2023. Clothing comes next with a share of 7.3%, which is around 6 billion euros per year, while air transport comes third with a share of 5.5%.

Spaniards spent around €6 billion on clothes online.

When it comes to the number of digital purchases, gambling is in the lead. In the last quarter of last year, the number of transactions reached 432 million, an increase of more than 15 percent.

Cross-border boom

In the last quarter of 2023, only 40.1% of the value of digital transactions remained in Spain: the remaining 59.9% went to foreign entities. This amounts to €13.6 billion in three months, most of which was spent with sellers in other EU countries. Spanish consumers particularly prefer online stores from other Member States for their clothing purchases.

Only 4 out of 10 euros spent digitally stays in Spain.

The cross-border share of Spanish online transactions is growing (up 19 percent). Meanwhile, Spanish online sellers are also increasingly making money from foreign customers, but the volumes are small: significantly more euros flow from Spain to other countries than vice versa.

Amazon in Spain

Amazon is the largest player in the Spanish digital market, having recorded annual gross revenues of €7.1 billion last year from its operations in the country.