In a survey of 19 European markets published by Reuters, the market research firm Mintel predicts that online retail sales will double to €323 billion by 2018 from €166 billion in 2012.
According to Mintel, France, Germany and the UK will remain the biggest markets for online retail, although the Netherlands, Poland and Spain should grow at a faster rate, and Norway and Sweden have the highest online per-capita spend.
The retail portal Amazon has further extended its lead on the continent: its market share has increased to 9.8% in 2012 from 9.2% in 2011 and could double in the next three to four years, despite negative publicity in Germany and the UK, and only five dedicated country websites (France, Germany, Italy, the UK and Spain).
