How Often Do Europeans Shop Online? Purchase Frequency Across Markets in 2025 | TGM StatBox

How often do Europeans shop online, and what does that reveal about their purchasing habits? Eurostat's 2025 data highlights differences in shopping frequency across European markets, from occasional buyers to frequent online shoppers.

If you work in e-commerce, understanding these patterns is valuable, and knowing how to apply them is even more important. By combining Eurostat's market statistics with TGM E-commerce Insights data on purchase drivers and payment preferences, you gain a deeper understanding of consumer behavior and stronger evidence to guide your business growth strategy.

How frequently did Europeans shop online in 2025?

According to Eurostat's E-commerce Statistics for Individuals, 67% of recent online shoppers in the EU made no more than five purchases during the three months preceding the 2025 survey.

The distribution shows:

• 34% made 1–2 online purchases.
• 33% made 3–5 online purchases.
• The remaining roughly one-third purchased online six or more times.

The finding reveals an important distinction between online shopping participation and purchasing frequency. Even among people who recently bought online, frequent purchasing is concentrated in a smaller group.

If you're assessing e-commerce opportunities, the distinction helps you avoid treating all online shoppers as equally active customers. How frequently people buy is a separate consideration from how many people shop online.

Country-level data adds another layer, revealing where occasional purchases are more common and where frequent shopping represents a larger share of online activity.

Which European countries have the most frequent online shoppers?

Eurostat's 2025 data reveals contrasting purchase frequency patterns across European markets.

Italy stands out for lower purchase frequency. Nearly half (49%) of recent online shoppers purchased only once or twice in three months, 15 percentage points above the EU average of 34%. Slovenia followed at 45%.

Meanwhile, Cyprus and Lithuania recorded the highest proportions of shoppers making 3–5 purchases, at 41% each.

Croatia and Malta show a different purchasing pattern:

• Croatia: 44% of recent online shoppers made 6–10 purchases, making it the country's largest frequency group.
• Malta: 33% purchased more than 10 times, the highest-frequency category and the largest group in the country.

Croatia and Malta were the only EU countries where a higher-frequency category represented the largest share of recent online shoppers.

The key insight is that the mix of online shopping activity differs considerably across markets. Italy has a larger concentration of people making fewer purchases, while Croatia and Malta have substantial groups purchasing much more frequently.

The distinction points to different questions for your e-commerce research.

In Italy, you need to understand what encourages shoppers to make additional purchases. In Croatia or Malta, a relevant question is which product categories account for frequent buying and how consumers choose between retailers.

Higher shopping frequency does not mean higher spending or stronger loyalty to individual brands. Eurostat measures purchases across online sellers, without identifying their value or the reasons behind them.

Understanding those missing details is essential before turning purchase frequency statistics into decisions about customer acquisition or retention.

So, why is shopping frequency important for E-commerce decisions, and is it enough?

Shopping frequency is a valuable indicator of online purchasing activity. It helps you compare consumer buying patterns across markets and identify where to investigate potential e-commerce opportunities.

Consider an online beauty retailer planning to expand into either Italy or Croatia. Eurostat shows that 49% of recent online shoppers in Italy made only 1–2 purchases, while 44% in Croatia made 6–10 purchases during the three months before their surveys.

Croatia's higher concentration of frequent shoppers offers a useful signal for further market assessment. Yet the retailer still faces problem: Does that higher shopping frequency translate into stronger demand for beauty products?

Eurostat's figures cover online purchases across all product categories. The retailer still needs to establish how often consumers buy beauty products specifically and which customer groups offer the strongest potential for repeat purchases.

Without that evidence, prioritizing Croatia over Italy or allocating a larger marketing budget based solely on overall shopping frequency remains difficult to justify.

Eurostat provides a credible foundation for identifying market differences and setting research priorities. When you move from assessing markets to planning how to attract customers and encourage purchases, consumer-level evidence becomes essential.

One practical area to explore next is how shoppers prefer to pay, and what those preferences reveal about their purchasing decisions.

How do payment preferences and consumer insights complete the E-commerce picture?

Eurostat shows how often Europeans shop online, yet purchase frequency alone leaves an important question unanswered: How do consumers prefer to pay for those purchases?

Do shoppers prefer credit cards or digital wallets? How interested are they in Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) options? Understanding these preferences helps you prioritize payment options that suit your customers, rather than applying the same checkout experience across different markets.

Payment choices are only one part of the picture. Knowing what consumers buy and what drives their purchase decisions is equally valuable when planning your product assortment and promotional strategy.

Consumer research adds this level of detail. Through TGM E-commerce Insights 2026, you can explore payment preferences, product categories and purchase drivers across major European markets, with comparisons between consumer groups.

Italy offers a practical connection to the Eurostat findings. While 49% of its recent online shoppers made only one or two purchases, TGM StatBox's research on Italian shopping decision factors provides another perspective by examining what different shopper segments prioritize when choosing where to buy.

Payment research adds another dimension. In Germany, TGM StatBox examines preferred online payment methods by gender, helping retailers assess how checkout preferences differ between customer groups.

The value comes from using these insights together. Eurostat identifies differences in online purchasing activity across markets, while consumer research helps you investigate the preferences behind purchase decisions. Combined with your own sales and checkout data, these insights provide a stronger foundation for localized e-commerce strategies.

Explore more e-commerce consumer insights on TGM StatBox to connect broader market trends with the customers you want to reach.

Methodology

The TGM E-commerce Insights 2026 study is based on a large-scale quantitative survey conducted across multiple countries worldwide, designed to capture consumer shopping patterns, users frequency, and decision drivers in 2026. The study provides comparable, country-level data to support market assessment, localization, and strategic planning for e-commerce platforms, retailers and brands.

Survey Methodology: online interviews (CAWI – Computer-Assisted Web Interviewing)
Sample Size: 7,077 participants
Age Groups: 18–65+
Country Coverage: US, UK, Poland, Germany, Italy, France & Spain
Data Weighting: Results have been weighted to reflect national demographics for accurate market representation

Note: Eurostat's 2025 figures measure online purchase frequency over a three-month reference period, not the full calendar year. Survey periods vary across countries and do not represent a single calendar quarter. The Eurostat article was published in June 2026, using data extracted in February 2026.