Nordic consumers are spending a lot more money on online purchases, research by PostNord has shown. In 2015 they spent SEK 161.6bn online, an increase of 15% on 2015.

Purchases from outside their countries totalled SEK40bn according to PostNord’s E-commerce in the Nordics 2016 report. Around 40% of Nordic residents bought good online from abroad in this period. Among the Nordic countries, Norway was the country where this was most likely to happen, with 50% of consumers importing goods, with 49% Finnish consumers importing.

Among the Nordic consumers, the most popular countries to buy from were the UK (36%) Germany (25 %), the US (23 %), and China (23 %), while Sweden (13 %) was also popular.

The report highlighted both the similarities and differences between online shoppers in the Nordic region. One example is that the Danes have high expectations regarding fast deliveries and value. They like to have goods delivered to their home, workplace, or parcel machine during daytime hours. Norwegians and Swedes however prefer to have their parcels delivered to their home mailboxes or to pick them up from partner outlets. Finns prefer to pick their goods up from partner outlets and are the most patient where it comes to delivery times.

“Smooth, flexible deliveries make more people want to buy online more of the time. Recipients want to know when, where, and how their goods will be delivered. It’s also becoming more common for recipients to want the option to change the delivery address and time while the goods are in transit. Customized deliveries are becoming an increasingly important competitive advantage,” added Andersson.

A full copy of the report can be obtained at: http://pages.postnord.com/E-commerce-in-the-Nordics-2016.html