Only 9% of businesses in Luxembourg see their online sales contribute to more than 1% of total turnover.  Photo: Shutterstock

Only 9% of businesses in Luxembourg see their online sales contribute to more than 1% of total turnover.  Photo: Shutterstock

In 2020, the grand duchy’s share of businesses whose online sales contribute to more than 1% of their total turnover, went down from 10 to 9%, making it the member state with the smallest percentage of businesses partaking in e-commerce. 

On 28 December, the European statistics site Eurostat revealed that 22% of EU businesses in the European Union in 2020 had sold their services and products online. 19% said that online sales made up at least 1% of their yearly turnover. The businesses considered in the study counted ten or more employees and self-employed enterprises.

At the top of the chart were Denmark with 38%, Sweden and Ireland (both 34%). Completing the lower end of the chart were Romania and France (both 12%), Bulgaria (10%) and Luxembourg (9%). A stark contrast with its neighbouring country Belgium, where the proportions grew from 26% to 31% over a year. While Luxembourg, France and Romania recorded a downward trend since the start of the pandemic, Bulgaria went up by 2% since the previous year.

Out of all online sales in the grand duchy, 11% were to Luxembourg’s own residents (lower than the 22% EU average), a higher proportion than the amount sold to other EU member states (7%).