Payments and e-commerce in Estonia

Discover how Estonians like to shop and pay online

Estonia

General Information

Population 1.3 m
Population 15 + 1.1 m
Online population 1.2 m
Area 45,339 km²
Currency EUR
GDP 36.3 bn $US
GDP per capita 27,392 $US

Card-based payments
Cash-based payments
Bank transfer
Wallets
Other

[{"label":"Card-based payments","value":"28"},{"label":"Cash-based payments","value":"4"},{"label":"Bank transfer","value":"52"},{"label":"Wallets","value":"12"},{"label":"Other","value":"4"}]

Banked population

Estonia 99%
Eastern Europe & the CIS 72%
World 67%

Credit card penetration

Estonia 34%
Eastern Europe & the CIS 22%
World 19%

Internet penetration

Estonia 91%
Eastern Europe & the CIS 76%
World 62%

Smartphone penetration

Estonia 68%
Eastern Europe & the CIS 62%
World 70%

The number of e-commerce stores increased by almost a third since the Pandemic. There were 6,000 before Covid-19 and in the two years following a further 1,700 have opened.

According to Eesti Pank, the number of transactions in the last quarter of 2021 was 31% higher than in the same quarter of 2020, with a total turnover of 240 m $US. Of that 58% of transactions were to local e-merchants, worth 133 m $US and 107 m $US going to cross border merchants.

Inflation in Estonia has reached an eyewatering 23.2%, much higher than the average of 8.9% for the EU.

delfi.ee is one of the most popular e-commerce stores in Estonia with 12.73 visitors a month.

Future e-commerce trends (2021-2026)

B2C e-commerce ($US billion)

2022 2.4

2023 2.8

2024 3.1

2025 3.5

2026 3.8

E-commerce spending per capita ($US)

2022 1804

2023 2082

2024 2357

2025 2624

2026 2847

E-commerce spending as % of GDP

2022 6.4

2023 7.0

2024 7.5

2025 7.8

2026 8.1

Estonia

The E-Commerce Market

Top e-commerce segments

Fashion
Electronics & Media
Food & Personal Care
Toys, Hobby & DIY
Furniture & Appliances

Cross-border e-commerce

Cross-border proportion of total e-commerce – 34%
Value of cross-border e-commerce – 0.7 bn $US
Online shoppers who have shopped cross-border – 53%

Top 3 cross-border shopping origin markets

China: 44%
Germany: 15%
Latvia: 7%

B2C e-commerce growth 20->21

Estonia 24.9%

E-commerce % of total retail

Estonia 11%
Eastern Europe & the CIS 12%
World 20%

E-commerce completed on a mobile device

Estonia 36%
Eastern Europe & the CIS 39%
World 53%

The Credit Card Split

Visa
Mastercard

[{"label":"Visa","value":"4"},{"label":"Mastercard","value":"96"}]

E-commerce market size 2.0 $US
E-commerce spending per capita 1,527 $US
E-commerce spending as % of GDP 5.9%

_{The information on our Insights pages has been compiled by us in cooperation with Datamatics and Wright & Brown. The data shown is partially owned by us and partially owned by GlobalData. © 2021 by PPRO Financial Ltd. No data and information can be used for any further publication without the explicit approval of PPRO.}

Estonia

Local Payment Methods

BitPay

Type Cryptocurrency Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Hyperwallet

Type Bank transfer, Prepaid voucher, Gift card Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High PayPal

Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High Paysera

Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High SEPA Direct Debit

Type Bank transfer Regions Eastern Europe & the CIS, Western & Central Europe Market relevance High Skrill

Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High Trustly

Type Bank transfer Regions Eastern Europe & the CIS, North America + 1 Market relevance High TrustPay

Type Bank transfer Regions Eastern Europe & the CIS, Western & Central Europe Allied Wallet

Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High UnionPay SecurePay