Online Shopping Statistics 2026: Who Shops Online, What They Buy and What Goes Wrong
73.6% of people aged 16 to 74 in the EU bought something online in the 12 months to 2025, according to Eurostat. That is up 8.8 points since 2020. In the US, 92% of adults say they ever buy things online, according to Pew Research Center. Clothes are the most bought goods. Online buying is not trouble free. 35.4% of recent EU online shoppers had a problem in 2025, and 36% of US adults have lost money to an unrefunded online shopping scam.
Key statistics
- People aged 16 to 74 in the EU who bought something online in the previous 12 months made up 73.6% of the population in 2025, according to Eurostat.
- US adults who say they ever buy things online made up 92% of adults in 2025, according to Pew Research Center.
- EU people aged 25 to 34 were 2.0 times as likely to shop online as those aged 65 to 74 in 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Eurostat data.
- EU online shoppers who bought clothes, shoes or accessories made up 70.3% of recent buyers in 2024, the top goods category, according to Eurostat.
- US adults who ever bought an item online that never arrived or was fake and was not refunded made up 36% of adults in 2025, according to Pew Research Center.
How many people shop online
Eurostat asks a large sample of households in every EU country whether they bought anything online for private use. Pew Research Center asked US adults the same basic question in 2025. The figures below are shares of the whole adult population, not only of internet users.
Nearly three in four EU adults shop online. The share who bought something in the past year rose every year from 2020 to 2025, by 8.8 points in total. The group who have never bought online is shrinking slowly. It fell from 19.0% to 15.3% of people aged 16 to 74 in five years.
In the US, Pew found 92% of adults say they ever buy things online. That is a looser test than Eurostat's 12 month window, so the two numbers are not directly comparable. A US figure on the 12 month basis is not published by an official source.
Most EU shoppers buy online only now and then. A third of recent buyers made one or two purchases in three months. Another third made six or more, and 15.3% made more than ten. The heavy buyer share rose from 30.1% in 2020 to 32.2% in 2025.
- Bought online in the last 12 months
- Bought online in the last 3 months
Source: Eurostat, isoc_ec_ib20.
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People aged 16 to 74 in the EU who bought something online in the previous 12 months made up 73.6% of the population in 2025, according to Eurostat.
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People in the EU aged 16 to 74 who bought online in the previous three months made up 62.4% of the population in 2025, according to Eurostat.
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People aged 16 to 74 in the EU who had never bought anything online made up 15.3% of the population in 2025, according to Eurostat.
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The share of EU people aged 16 to 74 who bought online in a year rose 8.8 points between 2020 and 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Eurostat data.
How we calculated it: Share who bought online in the previous 12 months in 2025 (73.56%) minus the share in 2020 (64.74%, Eurostat estimate) = 8.82 percentage points.
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The share of EU adults aged 16 to 74 who had never shopped online fell from 19.0% in 2020 to 15.3% in 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Eurostat data.
How we calculated it: Share who never bought online in 2020 (18.96%) minus the share in 2025 (15.25%) = 3.71 percentage points.
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US adults who say they ever buy things online made up 92% of adults in 2025, according to Pew Research Center.
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EU online shoppers who bought only once or twice in three months made up 34.2% of recent buyers in 2025, according to Eurostat.
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EU online shoppers who made six or more online purchases in three months made up 32.2% of recent buyers in 2025, according to Eurostat.
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EU online shoppers who made more than 10 online purchases in three months made up 15.3% of recent buyers in 2025, according to Eurostat.
| Year | In the last 12 months | In the last 3 months | Never |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 64.7% | 53.8% | 19.0% |
| 2021 | 67.1% | 56.9% | 18.0% |
| 2022 | 68.0% | 56.0% | 17.3% |
| 2023 | 69.6% | 58.1% | 16.7% |
| 2024 | 71.8% | 60.2% | 16.0% |
| 2025 | 73.6% | 62.4% | 15.3% |
Online shopping by age and country
Age and country explain far more of the variation than gender. All figures in this section are shares of all people in each group, from Eurostat's 2025 survey.
People aged 25 to 34 are the most likely to shop online, at 88.5%. Those aged 65 to 74 are half as likely, at 44.4%. The older groups are catching up, though. Since 2020 the rate for 55 to 64 year olds rose 12.9 points and for 65 to 74 year olds 11.9 points. The rate for 25 to 34 year olds, already high, rose 5.3 points.
Men and women shop online at almost the same rate. Where people live matters more. People in cities were 6.3 points more likely to buy online than people in rural areas.
The country gap is wide. Ireland is highest at 95.1% and Bulgaria lowest at 51.2%, a gap of 43.9 points. The gap is closing from below. Romania, Greece, Ireland and Bulgaria all rose more than 20 points from 2020 to 2025. Germany was the only EU country with a lower rate in 2025 than in 2020, but its 2020 figure stands out against its own later years.
Fewer buyers does not mean less buying. In Croatia only 61.7% of people bought online in 2025, yet 59.0% of recent buyers made six or more purchases in three months, the highest in the EU. Our ecommerce statistics page shows the same Eurostat survey as a share of internet users.
Source: Eurostat, isoc_ec_ib20, % of all individuals in each age group, EU27.
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EU people aged 25 to 34 who bought online in the previous 12 months made up 88.5% of their age group in 2025, according to Eurostat.
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EU people aged 65 to 74 who bought online in the previous 12 months made up 44.4% of their age group in 2025, according to Eurostat.
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EU people aged 25 to 34 were 2.0 times as likely to shop online as those aged 65 to 74 in 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Eurostat data.
How we calculated it: Share of all people aged 25 to 34 who bought online in the previous 12 months (88.51%) divided by the share aged 65 to 74 (44.38%) = 1.99.
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The online shopping rate of EU people aged 55 to 64 rose 12.9 points from 2020 to 2025, the most of any age group, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Eurostat data.
How we calculated it: 2025 share minus 2020 share of all people who bought online in the previous 12 months, by age: 55 to 64 rose 12.85 points (51.11% to 63.96%), 65 to 74 rose 11.86, 45 to 54 rose 10.58, 35 to 44 rose 7.84, 16 to 24 rose 6.15 and 25 to 34 rose 5.30.
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Women aged 16 to 74 in the EU who bought online in the previous 12 months made up 73.2% of women in 2025, against 73.9% of men, according to Eurostat.
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EU city dwellers were 6.3 points more likely to shop online than people in rural areas in 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Eurostat data.
How we calculated it: Share of people living in cities who bought online in the previous 12 months (76.38%) minus the share in rural areas (70.04%) = 6.34 percentage points.
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People aged 16 to 74 in Ireland who bought online in the previous 12 months made up 95.1% of the population in 2025, the highest in the EU, according to Eurostat.
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People aged 16 to 74 in Bulgaria who bought online in the previous 12 months made up 51.2% of the population in 2025, the lowest in the EU, according to Eurostat.
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People aged 16 to 74 in Italy who bought online in the previous 12 months made up 56.2% of the population in 2025, according to Eurostat.
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The share of people who shopped online in Ireland was 43.9 points higher than in Bulgaria in 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Eurostat data.
How we calculated it: Share of people aged 16 to 74 in Ireland who bought online in the previous 12 months (95.05%) minus the share in Bulgaria (51.20%) = 43.85 percentage points.
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Romania had the largest rise in online shoppers of any EU country from 2020 to 2025, up 22.4 points, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Eurostat data.
How we calculated it: 2025 minus 2020 share of people aged 16 to 74 who bought online in the previous 12 months, for the 26 EU countries with both years (France has no 2020 value). Romania 60.28 minus 37.86 = 22.42 points, ahead of Greece (21.65), Ireland (20.67) and Bulgaria (20.25).
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Germany was the only EU country with a lower online shopping rate in 2025 than in 2020, down 1.2 points, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Eurostat data.
How we calculated it: Germany 2025 share (81.38%) minus 2020 share (82.55%) = minus 1.17 points. All 25 other EU countries with both years rose. France has no 2020 value.
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Croatian online shoppers who made six or more purchases in three months made up 59.0% of recent buyers in 2025, the highest in the EU, according to Eurostat.
| Country | 2020 | 2025 | Change, points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ireland | 74.4% | 95.1% | +20.7 |
| Netherlands | 86.6% | 94.2% | +7.6 |
| Denmark | 89.3% | 91.2% | +1.9 |
| Sweden | 84.2% | 88.8% | +4.6 |
| Czechia | 71.6% | 83.7% | +12.0 |
| Germany | 82.6% | 81.4% | -1.2 |
| France | n/a | 80.2% | n/a |
| EU | 64.7% | 73.6% | +8.8 |
| Spain | 62.6% | 70.8% | +8.2 |
| Poland | 60.9% | 69.7% | +8.8 |
| Greece | 46.4% | 68.0% | +21.7 |
| Portugal | 44.5% | 60.5% | +16.0 |
| Romania | 37.9% | 60.3% | +22.4 |
| Italy | 43.9% | 56.2% | +12.3 |
| Bulgaria | 31.0% | 51.2% | +20.3 |
What people buy online
Eurostat asks recent online buyers what they bought in the previous three months. It rotates the detailed goods list, so the latest goods data are for 2024 and the latest services data for 2025.
Clothes dominate. 70.3% of recent EU online shoppers bought clothes, shoes or accessories in 2024, 7.2 points more than in 2020. Everyday items are growing too. Cosmetics, cleaning products and restaurant deliveries all rose. Computers and phones went the other way, down 3.2 points, after a spike in 2020 when people set up to work from home.
Services are now a large part of online buying. Half of recent buyers paid for a film, series or sports streaming service in 2025. Travel has recovered strongly. The share booking accommodation from hotels or agencies doubled from 2020, when the pandemic stopped most travel.
Most online buying stays at home. In 2023, 83.0% of recent buyers bought goods from sellers in their own country. 32.8% bought from another EU country and 20.1% from outside the EU. The share who did not know where the seller was based rose from 7.8% to 16.1% between 2020 and 2023. That matters for consumer rights, which depend on the seller's location.
Source: Eurostat, isoc_ec_ibgs, % of individuals who bought online in the previous three months, EU27, 2025.
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EU online shoppers who bought clothes, shoes or accessories made up 70.3% of recent buyers in 2024, the top goods category, according to Eurostat.
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EU online shoppers who ordered deliveries from restaurants, fast-food chains or caterers made up 32.9% of recent buyers in 2024, according to Eurostat.
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EU online shoppers who bought cosmetics, beauty or wellness products made up 31.3% of recent buyers in 2024, according to Eurostat.
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EU online shoppers who bought furniture, home accessories or gardening products made up 29.9% of recent buyers in 2024, according to Eurostat.
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EU online shoppers who bought medicine or dietary supplements made up 24.3% of recent buyers in 2024, according to Eurostat.
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The share of EU online shoppers buying clothes, shoes or accessories rose 7.2 points from 2020 to 2024, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Eurostat data.
How we calculated it: 2024 share of recent online buyers who bought clothes, shoes or accessories (70.31%) minus the 2020 share (63.09%) = 7.22 percentage points.
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The share of EU online shoppers buying computers, tablets or phones fell 3.2 points from 2020 to 2024, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Eurostat data.
How we calculated it: 2020 share of recent online buyers who bought computers, tablets, mobile phones or accessories (26.07%) minus the 2024 share (22.83%) = 3.24 percentage points.
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EU online shoppers with a paid film, series or sports streaming subscription made up 49.2% of recent buyers in 2025, according to Eurostat.
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EU online shoppers who bought tickets to events made up 42.9% of recent buyers in 2025, according to Eurostat.
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EU online shoppers who bought transport services from a transport company made up 40.7% of recent buyers in 2025, according to Eurostat.
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EU online shoppers who booked accommodation from hotels or travel agencies made up 34.8% of recent buyers in 2025, according to Eurostat.
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The share of EU online shoppers booking accommodation from hotels or agencies was 2.0 times higher in 2025 than in 2020, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Eurostat data.
How we calculated it: 2025 share of recent online buyers who booked rented accommodation from enterprises (34.76%) divided by the 2020 share (17.33%) = 2.01. The 2020 figure was hit by pandemic travel limits.
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EU online shoppers who bought goods from sellers in their own country made up 83.0% of recent buyers in 2023, according to Eurostat.
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EU online shoppers who bought goods from sellers in other EU countries made up 32.8% of recent buyers in 2023, according to Eurostat.
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EU online shoppers who bought goods from sellers outside the EU made up 20.1% of recent buyers in 2023, according to Eurostat.
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The share of EU online shoppers buying from sellers in an unknown country was 2.1 times higher in 2023 than in 2020, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Eurostat data.
How we calculated it: 2023 share of recent online buyers who bought goods from sellers whose country they did not know (16.11%) divided by the 2020 share (7.75%) = 2.08.
| Goods | 2020 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Clothes, shoes or accessories | 63.1% | 70.3% |
| Restaurant and fast-food deliveries | 28.1% | 32.9% |
| Cosmetics, beauty or wellness products | 26.2% | 31.3% |
| Furniture, home or garden products | 28.6% | 29.9% |
| Sports goods | 21.2% | 25.6% |
| Printed books, magazines or newspapers | 26.8% | 24.4% |
| Medicine or dietary supplements | 22.6% | 24.3% |
| Computers, tablets, phones or accessories | 26.1% | 22.8% |
| Children's toys or childcare items | 17.2% | 20.1% |
| Cleaning or personal hygiene products | 15.7% | 19.0% |
| Food or drink from shops or meal kits | 18.8% | 18.3% |
| Consumer electronics or household appliances | 18.3% | 17.9% |
Mobile shopping and the online share of retail
Surveys count shoppers. Retail data count money. Adobe shows how US shoppers pay by device, and the US Census Bureau and ONS show how much retail spending is online.
Phones now carry most US online holiday spending. Smartphones took 56.4% of spend in the 2025 season and Adobe expects 57.4% in 2026. On Christmas Day the share reached 66.5%. Shoppers still prefer a bigger screen for returns. Only 38.8% of returns were made on mobile, 17.6 points below the mobile share of spending. See our mobile ecommerce statistics for more.
Online is a larger share of retail spending in Great Britain than in the US. 28.8% of British retail sales were made online in September 2026, against 17.1% in the US in Q2 2026. US ecommerce is growing faster for now, up 12.2% in a year against 6.7% for all retail. British online spending rose 7.4% in Q3 2026.
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Smartphones drove 56.4% of US online holiday spending in 2025, up from 54.5% in 2024, according to Adobe.
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Smartphones drove 66.5% of US online sales on Christmas Day in 2025, the highest mobile share of the season, according to Adobe.
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Smartphones accounted for 82.2% of US Buy Now Pay Later online purchases in the 2025 holiday season, according to Adobe.
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Mobile devices handled 38.8% of US online returns in the 2025 holiday season, according to Adobe.
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The mobile share of US holiday online spending was 17.6 points higher than the mobile share of returns in 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Adobe data.
How we calculated it: Mobile share of holiday online spend (56.4%) minus mobile share of returns (38.8%) = 17.6 percentage points.
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Mobile devices will account for 57.4% of US online holiday spending in 2026, according to an Adobe forecast.
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US retail ecommerce sales grew 12.2% in Q2 2026 on a year earlier, against 6.7% for all retail, according to the US Census Bureau.
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Online spending in Great Britain was 7.4% higher in Q3 2026 than a year earlier, according to the Office for National Statistics.
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The online share of retail sales in Great Britain was 11.7 points higher than in the US in 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from ONS and US Census Bureau data.
How we calculated it: Great Britain online share of retail sales in September 2026 (28.8%, ONS) minus the US online share in Q2 2026 (17.1%, US Census Bureau) = 11.7 percentage points. Periods and definitions differ.
| Measure | Share |
|---|---|
| Holiday online spend on smartphones, 2024 | 54.5% |
| Holiday online spend on smartphones, 2025 | 56.4% |
| Holiday online spend on mobile, 2026 forecast | 57.4% |
| Christmas Day online sales on smartphones, 2025 | 66.5% |
| Buy Now Pay Later purchases on smartphones, 2025 | 82.2% |
| Holiday returns made on mobile, 2025 | 38.8% |
Online shopping problems and scams
Eurostat asks recent EU buyers what went wrong. Pew asked US adults whether they had ever paid for an item that never came or was fake and got no refund.
Problems are slowly becoming more common in the EU. 35.4% of recent buyers had at least one in 2025, up from 32.8% in 2021. Slow delivery is still the main complaint. Every problem type in the table rose between 2023 and 2025. Fraud is rare but growing. It affected 3.9% of recent buyers in 2025, half as many again as in 2021.
The US picture looks worse, but Pew asks a different question. It counts anyone who has ever lost money to an item that never arrived or was fake, at any time. On that basis, 36% of US adults have been caught. 12% said it happened in the past year. Young adults report it most. 42% of adults under 30 said it had happened to them, against 26% of those 65 and older. Returns are covered on our ecommerce returns statistics page.
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EU online shoppers who had at least one problem buying online made up 35.4% of recent buyers in 2025, according to Eurostat.
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EU online shoppers who had slower delivery than promised made up 19.9% of recent buyers in 2025, the most common problem, according to Eurostat.
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EU online shoppers who found a website hard to use or faulty made up 11.5% of recent buyers in 2025, according to Eurostat.
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EU online shoppers who received wrong or damaged goods or services made up 10.4% of recent buyers in 2025, according to Eurostat.
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EU online shoppers who had problems with fraud made up 3.9% of recent buyers in 2025, according to Eurostat.
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The share of EU online shoppers reporting fraud rose by half between 2021 and 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Eurostat data.
How we calculated it: Share of recent online buyers reporting fraud in 2025 (3.85%) divided by the 2021 share (2.56%) = 1.50, a 50% rise (1.29 percentage points).
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US adults who ever bought an item online that never arrived or was fake and was not refunded made up 36% of adults in 2025, according to Pew Research Center.
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US adults who ever paid for an online item that never arrived and was not refunded made up 31% of adults in 2025, according to Pew Research Center.
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US adults who ever bought a counterfeit item online and were not refunded made up 17% of adults in 2025, according to Pew Research Center.
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US adults who had an unrefunded online shopping scam in the past year made up 12% of adults in 2025, according to Pew Research Center.
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US adults under 30 who ever had an unrefunded online shopping scam made up 42% of their age group in 2025, against 26% of those 65 and older, according to Pew Research Center.
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US adults under 30 were 1.6 times as likely as those 65 and older to report an unrefunded online shopping scam in 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Pew Research Center data.
How we calculated it: Share of US adults under 30 reporting an unrefunded online shopping scam (42%) divided by the share aged 65 and older (26%) = 1.62.
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US adults who say online scams and attacks are a problem on shopping sites and apps made up 85% of adults in 2025, according to Pew Research Center.
| Problem | 2021 | 2023 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Any problem | 32.8% | 33.1% | 35.4% |
| Delivery slower than promised | 20.8% | 18.7% | 19.9% |
| Website hard to use or faulty | 9.3% | 10.8% | 11.5% |
| Wrong or damaged goods or services | 8.2% | 8.6% | 10.4% |
| Hard to find information on guarantees or rights | 5.7% | 6.9% | 8.2% |
| Complaints hard to make or no good response | 4.6% | 4.9% | 6.3% |
| Foreign seller did not sell to my country | 4.0% | 4.1% | 5.4% |
| Final costs higher than shown | 2.9% | 3.4% | 4.5% |
| Fraud | 2.6% | 3.1% | 3.9% |
How online shopping is measured
Each source answers a different question. Read every figure with its own scope, period and base.
Eurostat's survey on ICT usage in households and by individuals covers people aged 16 to 74 in each EU country. It is self-reported. It counts purchases for private use of goods and services, including travel, tickets and subscriptions. Some figures use all people as the base, others only people who bought online in the previous three months. We state the base in each sentence. Questions on goods, problems and sellers' location rotate, so the latest year differs by topic. The 2020 EU figures are Eurostat estimates and 2021 has a break in series.
Pew Research Center surveyed 9,397 US adults from its American Trends Panel in April 2025. Its scam figure counts unrefunded items that never arrived or were counterfeit, ever, not just in the past year.
The US Census Bureau and ONS measure money, not people. The Census Bureau compares ecommerce with total retail sales of US retail firms. The ONS compares online with all retail sales in Great Britain. The Census Q2 2026 figures are preliminary and will be revised in the Q3 2026 release. Adobe data come from US retail sites that use Adobe Analytics and are not a census of all online sales. Its 2026 figure is a forecast.
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of people shop online?
In the EU, 73.6% of people aged 16 to 74 bought something online in the 12 months to 2025, according to Eurostat. In the US, 92% of adults say they ever buy things online, according to Pew Research Center.
Which country shops online the most?
In the EU, Ireland had the highest share in 2025, with 95.1% of people aged 16 to 74 buying online in the past year. Bulgaria had the lowest, at 51.2%. By value, Great Britain sells more online than the US, with 28.8% of retail sales online in September 2026.
Is online shopping growing compared with last year?
Yes. The EU share of people buying online rose from 71.8% in 2024 to 73.6% in 2025. US ecommerce sales grew 12.2% in Q2 2026 on a year earlier, and British online spending rose 7.4% in Q3 2026.
What do people buy online the most?
Clothes, shoes and accessories. 70.3% of recent EU online shoppers bought them in 2024, according to Eurostat. Restaurant deliveries came next among goods, at 32.9%. Among services, 49.2% paid for a film, series or sports streaming service in 2025.
How many people get scammed shopping online?
36% of US adults say they have ever bought an item online that never arrived or was counterfeit and was not refunded, according to Pew Research Center. In the EU, 3.9% of recent online buyers reported problems with fraud in 2025.
How much online shopping is done on mobile?
Smartphones drove 56.4% of US online holiday spending in 2025, according to Adobe. Adobe forecasts 57.4% for the 2026 holiday season.
Sources
- Eurostat, Internet purchases by individuals (2020 onwards) (isoc_ec_ib20), updated 17 April 2026, accessed 10 November 2026. Link · Saved data copy · Licence: CC BY 4.0
- Pew Research Center, About a third of Americans say they've had an online shopping scam happen to them, 19 November 2025, accessed 10 November 2026. Link · Saved data copy
- Eurostat, Internet purchases - goods or services (2020 onwards) (isoc_ec_ibgs), updated 17 April 2026, accessed 10 November 2026. Link · Saved data copy · Licence: CC BY 4.0
- Eurostat, Internet purchases - origin of sellers (2020-2023) (isoc_ec_ibos), updated 17 April 2026, accessed 10 November 2026. Link · Saved data copy · Licence: CC BY 4.0
- Adobe, Adobe: Holiday Shopping Season Drove a Record $257.8 Billion Online with Consumers Embracing Generative AI Tools, 7 January 2026, accessed 10 November 2026. Link · Saved data copy
- Adobe, Adobe: U.S. holiday shopping season to hit record, 28 September 2026, accessed 10 November 2026. Link · Saved data copy
- US Census Bureau, Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales, 2nd Quarter 2026, August 2026, accessed 10 November 2026. Link · Saved data copy
- Office for National Statistics, Retail sales, Great Britain: September 2026, 23 October 2026, accessed 10 November 2026. Link · Saved data copy · Licence: Open Government Licence v3.0
- Eurostat, Internet purchases - problems encountered (2021 onwards) (isoc_ec_iprb21), updated 17 April 2026, accessed 10 November 2026. Link · Saved data copy · Licence: CC BY 4.0
Changes to this page
- : Page published with Eurostat household survey data to 2025, Pew Research Center 2025 survey data, US Census Bureau data to Q2 2026, ONS data for September 2026 and Adobe holiday data.