Strong online FMCG sales in 2016

Online sales for “fast moving consumer goods” have grown 26 % in 2016 and now represent 35 % of its total global turnover growth.

United States lag behind

FMCG online sales grew the most in the some of the largest Asian markets, like China (+ 53 %) and South Korea (+ 40 %). In the latter, online FMCG sales amount to nearly 20 % of total turnover. Spain (+ 29 %) and Portugal (+ 24 %) performed best in Europe, but even France and the United Kingdom posted an 8 % online turnover increase.

The United States’ performance was not that impressive: only 1.5 % of FMCG sales are online, but Walmart and Amazon’s initiatives should help increase those numbers in the next few years.

Larger online spend 

It is no surprise that South Korea is number one when it comes to the number of households buying something online, up to 69.4 % in 2016. China is up to 54.6 %. The most developed European market, the United Kingdom, that number only amounts to 27.5 %. On the other hand, households in the United Kingdom buy online most often, 15.4 purchases every year. South Korean households only do so 15.2 times a year.

People do spend more online on average, particularly in the United Kingdom where people spend 4.5 times as much as they do offline. There is a similar effect in other countries, like Spain, France and South Korea, where the average online spend is more than twice as high as offline.

“E-commerce accounts for 4.6 % of the FMCG market globally but represents 35% of the growth. E-commerce may only reach a small proportion of grocery shoppers but it is no surprise that manufacturers are investing considerably in this channel”, research firm Kantar Worldpanel’s Eric Batty said.