E-commerce is defined as selling and purchasing of goods and materials thoroughly online transactions. Now a days everything is available at our doorstep by just one click. There is no point of going physically anywhere and just sit at home and buy whatever you feel like. This has immensely benefitted those countries specifically who have a tremendous growth in the field of technology and have multiple internet users who will buy and transact in an online mode.
Spain after World War II and after the death of their dictator Francisco Franco, Spain had taken a while to get its feet back in the economic sector. As of few years, Spain now remains as a country in Europe which still has its unemployment rate at its peak. Whereas, we see that the Spanish market seems to be very competitive when it comes to the e-commerce marketing. The Spanish e-commerce is one of the fastest growing e-commerce in the country. It has been growing overall since the year 2014. There are some multiple foreign companies, with local brands and some pure ecommerce brands which hold its market tight. As of 2022, with 42 million internet users in Spain, the digital population is accustomed to e-commerce and it seems to be more convenient for the population. The Spanish people tend to operate the digital world more frequently and hence the only sector that has been growing increasingly in double digits is the e-commerce sector. With an early development of marketing from home, which made the Spanish markets very advanced and highly competitive. According to European ecommerce news, 62% of the Spanish population has been surfing online to purchase and sell products and about 15% of them have used smart phone devices to order for items.
There are several American e-commerce websites which have taken over the global e-commerce market and are popular in every country. But there are some local e-commerce brands in Spain which have made their way to the most visited top 10 e-commerce sites. These sites have gained immense popularity and are in high demand due to their attractive market offers in attracting customers. There is a diverse in Spain in the top 10 e-commerce brands ranging from electronic brands, fashion, home décor, sporting, booking a ticket or hotel and classifieds. The top 10 e-commerce in Spain consist of American brands, some popular European brands and local brands as well. This random mix in the demand of these top 10 e-commerce sites proves the diversity in their culture and demand as well.
The following article gives a brief knowledge of the top 10 e-commerce websites in Spain:
Top 10 Spanish E-Commerce Platforms
Amazon Spain:
It was founded in the US in 1994 and started as an online retail book shop till it extended the diversity of its products to electronics, toys, furniture, clothes, food, etc. Amazon as well extended its presence in the global market apart from US. It marked it’s place in the global e-commerce competition before it even further extended its horizon on products. The monthly traffic of this website in Spain is about 172million visits. Amazon has flourished and created a huge name in Spain as well having its stores and warehouses in four important locations in Spain. It has a feature such as amazon prime which allows its users to watch movies or tv shows online and due to the facility of prime, the customers can request for a speedy delivery within a span of 1-2 days. For this a customer needs to subscribe as a prime member.
El Corte Ingles:
El Corte has expanded throughout Spain and Portugal and becoming the largest departmental store in Spain. The store was founded in 28th June 1940 by Ramón Areces and César Rodríguez González. It has about 100 stores and one can even order for items through its website. Their departmental store has varied products such as clothing and designer and household items and furniture as well. the estimated monthly traffic is of about 36.9 million visits. The headquarter is in Madrid and it is the largest departmental store all over in Europe and is the third all over world.
E-bay Spain:
E-bay being an American online marketplace founded in 1995, has created a huge market for it in the e-commerce environment for itself in Spain as well. It has expanded its market for more than 20 countries. It is a marketplace that allows selling and purchasing of its items through an online auction platform. Varied products from electronics, fashion, home décor, sports and toys are placed in an auction on e-bay to the customers. The monthly visits of E-bay in Spain are about 27.1 million visits.
AliExpress Espanol:
AliExpress is a well-known online retail store and a marketplace known to online shoppers. Individuals and companies can sell their products ranging from mobile phones, accessories, jewelry, clothing and sports products through this online platform in the form of auction. It is owned by another online group called AliBaba and they have products from various parts of Asia and China and is sold internationally. The online visits this site receives is about 23.9 million. This online shop was launched in 26th April 2010. The AliBaba group was founded in 4th April 1999 in Hangzhou, China by Daniel Zhang.
MediaMarkt Spain:
This was found in 24th November 1979 in Munich, Germany. There are about 850 stores all over Europe. The headquarter is in Ingolstatd, Germany. It is a German multinational chain of stores which deals with the selling of consumer electronics. This is the largest online consumer electronic shop in Europe and second largest in the world after BestBuy. It was founded by Leopold Stiefel alongside his partners Walter Gunz and Helga Kellerhals. This is a small retail company of the main parent organization named MediaMarktSaturn Retain Group. The monthly visits of this site are 19 Million.
Carrefour Spain:
Not just one of the biggest French multinational company, Carrefour is also one of the biggest retail store in the world. It operates hypermarkets, and various other convenient items starting from grocery items, entertainment, media, clothing, electronic items, etc. It has vastly expanded its base in the world from Europe, South America and Asia. From having numerous stores, it also is available in the e-commerce platform. The monthly visits of this site are about 18.2 million. The headquarters are in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. It was founded in Annecy, France by Denis Defforey alongside partners Marcel Fournier, Jacques Defforey, Gustave Badin.
PC Componentes:
This online retail shop deals with technological gaming tools in both of its stores which are currently situated and operating in Spain and Murcia. It was initially an e-commerce market only which can be delivered at every corner of Spain. The headquarters are in Alhama de Murcia, Murcia and it was founded in the year 2005. The online platforms get about 13.7 million monthly visits. Within a short span of time, it has gained immense popularity in the Spanish market unlike some other e-commerce sites which have been established even before 2005 and not yet come int the list of top10. It is more functioning in the online mode than in the stores.
Decathlon Spain:
This is a French retail shop which has numerous sporting gadgets such as shoes, different kinds of equipment’s, clothing and accessories. It was founded in 1976 in a small town in France called Lille. It has its own shop and brand now in the sporting industry where it has created a name of its own. Adding to that, it has also created a name or itself in the online platform. The growth of this e-commerce market is immense and all over Europe , South America, Asia-Pacific and in Africa as well with about 1500 stores in 49 countries. It has about 10.5 million monthly visits. The headquarter is in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, France and is founded by Michel Leclercq.
Zalando Spain:
This German retail shop was founded in 2008 by Rocket Internet. This market has specialized products in the sector of clothing, beauty products, shoes , sport items and fashion clothing. It is operational in fifteen European countries and has several subsidiaries and warehouses worldwide. The largest shareholder that has invested in this company is the Swedish company named Kinnevik with a 32% shareholding capacity. It has about 7.95 million monthly visits. The headquarter is in Berlin, Germany and the products are available to its customers in 17 European markets. The company has also increased its base in the online platform as well. It has immense popularity in online marketing as well and seems to be doing amazing in the Spanish markets due to high demand.
Fnac Spain:
Fnac is a French company which sells electronic products through audio, video, books, CDs, computer software, DVDs, televisions, etc. It has expanded its market hugely all over Europe in Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Brazil, and Switzerland. It has also majorly expanded its market in the online portal through an e-commerce store. The monthly visits of this site are about 6.65 million. It was founded in 1954 by Andre Essel and Max Theret. The head office is situated in Ivry-sur-Seine near Paris. As of the latest reports, it has about 184 stores all over the world. It has its shops in countries like France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Netherlands; franchising: Morocco, Qatar, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Tunisia and Congo. This is a small retail company of a parent company Fnac Darty.
Future Of e-Commerce in Spain
Some of the Spanish online retail fashion stores give competition to the global fashion outlets such as Zara. In Spain, the monthly visits of these sites are almost at par. Zara receives globally a month visit of about 80 million of which 9% of the visits are from Spain. Cheap and low budgeted online air tickets from Spanish airlines such as Iberia and Vueling, also are at par with several e-commerce sites. They get a month visit of about 6 million.
The revenue in the e-commerce market amounts to US $20,543 million in 2020. By 2024, revenue is hoping to rise to an annual growth of 7.9% and a market volume of US $27,804 million. The e-commerce sector gains maximum profit in the Electronics and Media sector. The internet user penetration is also about to gain by 81.6% by 2024. The average revenue per user currently amounts to US $577.14. although there’s an increase in the Spanish economy in terms of e-commerce, the Spanish economy still seems to fall due to the high rate of unemployment and rise in the inflation rate. But we see that since 2018, the inflation rate has reduced leading to the lower unemployment rate. The employment and laborers are getting jobs in the way of being merchants in the e-commerce sector. Spain is now the 4th largest European country following the B2C e-commerce market after Germany and UK.
We see that the Spanish people tend to prefer online e-commerce marketing more since in online way of marketing there are more offers and discounts which tend to attract customers often. At times, there are no delivery costs as well. Operative costs are usually cancelled or much cheaper in this scenario. Hence due to its wide acceptance e-commerce has a great future in Spain.
Conclusion
Though online marketing is seen to become a flourishing way of marketing since its faster, easier and a wide range of variety to be chosen from, there are several harmful and disadvantages as well. E-commerce comes with its own disadvantages such as online scams and viruses which is why all the transactions and online payments should be done in a safe and protected browser. To increase the platform for e-commerce and wanting to make everything available in this platform, there are several steps being taken and ways to attract customers in this mode. Soon, everything will be available to us at our fingertips and we wouldn’t have to do the effort of visiting a store.