In the face of virtually stagnating growth in many mature e-commerce markets, online retailers are facing a decisive decision: either they accept zero growth – or they try to scale their business cross-border. Scandinavia is often overlooked in the search for suitable countries. “Wrongly,” says Jeroen Leenders, Co-Founder of Salesupply.
At around 37 billion euros, the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden together “only” accounted for around half of the e-commerce sales generated in Germany in 2023 (79.7 billion euros). However, the combination of above-average internet usage and technological expertise, high purchasing power and significantly less competition than in other European online markets makes Scandinavia attractive for foreign online retailers.
Consumers from Scandinavia appreciate sustainable quality goods
Online retailers that offer high-quality, sustainable products and services in popular online categories such as fashion, household appliances and cosmetics can expect strong demand. This is because Nordic consumers are consciously looking for high-quality and sustainable products and are prepared to pay a higher price for them. Moreover, Scandinavian customers are no strangers to international shopping. According to market studies, they already prefer to shop across borders in China, Germany and the UK.
However, anyone who wants to lump all Scandinavian countries together because of their common roots will fail. This is because the differences in purchasing behaviour and expectations of the shopping experience are considerable in some cases. Norway, as a non-EU member, is of course a special exception. But there are also numerous special features in the other EU countries.
One in three Swedes has never returned an online order
While the Danes, for example, are very digitally savvy and almost one in two have already made a purchase via social media channels, older target groups in Finland in particular need to be given more guidance when it comes to online retail. In addition, they are very suspicious when it comes to passing on their data and pay more attention to ensuring that products comply with European standards. The Swedes, on the other hand, are very focussed on sustainability and also delight e-commerce providers with a comparatively low returns rate: according to market studies, more than one in three Swedes have never returned an online order. And the Norwegians, like the Danes, are very open-minded when it comes to using new technologies to continuously improve the user experience.
There are also differences when it comes to logistics. Swedes and Danes prefer to have their parcels delivered to their homes. The Finns prefer to collect their order from a parcel locker. And Norwegians favour service points in supermarkets or gas stations.
One thing that all four countries have in common, however, is a high affinity for mobile commerce: if you want to sell to Nordic consumers, you should therefore ensure that your online shop and app are user-friendly and optimised for mobile devices. In addition, customers in Scandinavia expect efficient support (ideally in their native language) when they have questions but they are more patient than the Germans and the Dutch.
In order to compete with local providers, foreign online retailers looking to expand into Scandinavia must be able to offer flexible, efficient solutions tailored to the local markets. Oftentimes the last mile delivery cost are a bottleneck for online shops delivering packages from abroad. To be able to compete with local competitors in Scandinavia a local fulfillment center is required to significantly reduce last mile costs.
