Raw Data: E-Commerce Around the World

Membership Ticker

Monika Bauerlein,
CEO

Dear Reader,

December is make-or-break for Mother Jones’ fundraising. We have a $350,000 goal that we simply cannot afford to miss. And in "No Cute Headlines or Manipulative BS," we explain, as matter-of-fact as we can, how being a nonprofit means everything to us. Bottom line: Donations big and small make up 74 percent of our budget this year and are urgently needed this month, and all online gifts will be matched and go twice as far until we hit our goal. Please pitch in if you can right now.

December is make-or-break for Mother Jones’ fundraising, and in "No Cute Headlines or Manipulative BS," we hope that giving it to you as matte-of-fact as we can will work to raise the $350,000 we need to raise this month. Donations make up 74 percent of our budget this year, and all online gifts will be matched and go twice as far until we hit our goal.

Yesterday I posted a chart showing retail sales via brick-and-mortar outlets. Last night, while browsing for something else¹ I happened across a report showing the size of the e-commerce market in various European countries as a percentage of total retail sales. Here it is:

Belgium and Ireland are way ahead of the pack. Conversely, Germans and Italians are apparently wary of the internet and prefer to schlep their goods home in their hot little hands. The United States comes in fairly average.

I have no point to make about this. It just struck me as interesting. I wonder why all the Germanic-speaking folks are relatively apprehensive about the whole online shopping thing?

¹It’s amazing how often this happens. What’s equally amazing is that it almost always happens when I strike out completely on whatever I was looking for in the first place.