Press release 01/08/2019

INFORMATION SOCIETY SURVEY. COMPANIES. 2018

Establishments with e-commerce made 40.6% of their sales and 36.4% of their total purchases via this channel in the Basque Country in 2018

26.3% of all establishments already participate in e-commerce, 1.2 percentage points more than the previous year

The number of companies carrying out e-commerce in the Basque Country is calculated to be around 43,000 in 2018, and it is estimated that purchases and sales made via this method were 40.6%% of their total sales and 36.4% of their total purchases, according to EUSTAT data.

E-commerce in the Basque Country continued to grow in respect of the previous year. E-commerce sales by companies in the Basque Country increased by 10.8% and purchases made using the same system were up by 10.2%, according to EUSTAT data.

In 2018 the volume of business generated over the Internet or via other electronic systems such as email and electronic data interchange (EDI and other networks) rose to 19,142.9 million euros in terms of electronic sales and 14,065.9 million euros in terms of purchases.

By province, Gipuzkoa stood out in electronic sales, with growth of 12.1%, followed by Bizkaia, 11.0%, and Álava, 9.4%. In electronic purchases, however, it was Bizkaia that achieved the greatest increase, at 11.7%, followed by Álava, 9.0%, and Gipuzkoa, 8.6%.

With regards to the weight that each of the provinces has, there was an even distribution over all three in terms of electronic sales, Bizkaia had the highest percentage, with 36.9% of the Basque Country total, whereas Gipuzkoa had 32.1% this year and Álava 31.0%. In purchases, however, the participation is more disparate, Bizkaia accounted for 51.1% of the total in 2018, whereas Gipuzkoa represented 31.0%, and Álava kept the remaining 17.9% of the electronic purchases in the Basque Country overall.

Taking into account the size of the establishments, it is the establishments with 10 or more employees in which larger sums of money are traded in e-commerce, with 83.3% of sales and 70.8% of total purchases.

For its part, the percentage of companies that participate in e-commerce stood at 26.3% in 2018, 1.2 percentage points more than the previous year. This increase occurred primarily as the percentage of companies that purchase electronically, currently accounting for 24.1% of companies, had risen by 1.1 percentage point, whereas the percentage of companies that make electronic sales had stayed practically the same, only 0.1 percentage point more and accounted for 6.9% of the total.

Likewise, it can be observed that although the number of companies purchasing electronically greatly exceeds those that sell using the same method, the figures for electronic sales (19.1 thousand million euros) are higher than those for electronic purchases (14.1 thousand million euros).

These figures vary if company size is taken into account. Thus, amongst those with 10 or more employees, 31.6% engaged in e-commerce, 2.6 percentage points more with respect to the previous year. Also in this segment, there was a higher number of companies making electronic purchases, 27.0%; and a lower number of companies making sales through the same channels, 13.1%; following a 1.9 percentage point increase in those that purchase and a 0.5 point increase in those that sell.

With regards to the means by which electronic purchases were made, 49.2% of total purchases were made by email, 29.9% by EDI and other networks and the remaining 20.9% using websites. In turn, 43.5% of total sales were carried out via EDI and other networks, 29.5% by email and 27.0% through websites, apps or internet sales portals.

With regards to the type of customer to which e-commerce sales were destined in 2018, a large majority, 79.9% of total e-sales, were destined for other companies (so-called B2B trade), 18.1% were for private consumers (B2C) and the remaining 2.0% was spread over other kinds of customers, such as Public Administrations (B2G).

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.es Tel: 945 01 75 62