European E-commerce Hits €911bn as Payments Reshape Online Retail

European e-commerce has broken through the €900bn barrier, underlining the growing importance of digital retail to the continent’s economy while intensifying debate over payments innovation and competition from overseas sellers.

European E-commerce Hits €911bn

B2C e-commerce turnover across Europe reached €911bn in 2025, according to the 2026 European E-commerce Report from Ecommerce Europe and EuroCommerce, representing nominal growth of 7% from €842bn a year earlier.

Once inflation is stripped out, real growth stood at 4%, indicating that the expansion was driven by more than higher prices.

The figures are particularly notable given continued economic uncertainty, geopolitical tension and concerns among European merchants about regulatory complexity.

Payments Become Part of the Growth Story

How Europeans pay is becoming increasingly important as ecommerce matures.

The report highlights the expansion of new payment solutions designed to reduce friction at checkout, while artificial intelligence is increasingly influencing how consumers discover products and how merchants manage ecommerce operations.

For payment providers, a €911bn market creates considerable opportunity around checkout optimisation, fraud prevention, account-to-account payments, wallets and alternative payment methods.

The competitive battleground is therefore shifting beyond simple payment acceptance. Merchants increasingly expect providers to improve conversion while controlling fraud and payment costs across multiple European markets.

Competition From Overseas Sellers Comes Under Scrutiny

Growth has also intensified the industry’s concerns over whether European and non-European e-commerce businesses compete under equivalent rules.

Ecommerce Europe and EuroCommerce are calling for more consistent enforcement of customs, product safety and environmental requirements, arguing that European businesses face obligations that are not always enforced equally against sellers shipping directly from outside the EU.

The scale of the problem is increasing. European Commission figures show that almost 5.9bn e-commerce items entered the EU in 2025, up 26% in a year.

From July 2026, the EU abolished its €150 customs-duty exemption and introduced a temporary €3 duty per item on low-value consignments, explicitly citing fair competition as one objective.

European Ecommerce Enters Its Next Phase

The report also points towards a changing consumer market, with second-hand commerce expanding alongside out-of-home delivery, improved parcel tracking and more circular retail models.

For the payments industry, the broader message is significant.

European e-commerce is no longer simply expanding in volume. The infrastructure surrounding every transaction — payments, identity, fraud, logistics and regulation — is becoming a competitive differentiator in its own right.

At €911bn and still growing in real terms, the market is large enough for relatively small improvements in conversion, payment cost or fraud performance to translate into substantial economic value.