“Direct-to-consumer” brands on the rise in European e-commerce

Ikea, Lidl and Zalando lead the rankings of the 500 best European cross-border webshops. International e-commerce sales are experiencing a growth slowdown due to inflation and falling consumer confidence.

Lower than expected growth

In 2022, total online cross-border trade accounted for a turnover of 179.4 billion euros (excluding travel), up 4.8% compared to 2021. The lower-than-expected growth is due to a difficult macroeconomic environment with challenges in the supply chain. Nevertheless, online sales outperformed overall retail sales in the EU, which indeed levelled off in 2022.