Payments and e-commerce in Latvia

Discover how Latvians like to shop and pay online

Latvia

General Information

Population 1.9 m
Population 15 + 1.6 m
Online population 1.7 m
Area 64,589 km²
Currency EUR
GDP 37.2 bn $US
GDP per capita 19,926 $US

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

[{"label":"Card-based payments","value":"47"},{"label":"Cash-based payments","value":"3"},{"label":"Bank transfer","value":"28"},{"label":"Wallets","value":"20"},{"label":"Other","value":"2"}]

Banked population

Latvia 94%
Eastern Europe & the CIS 72%
World 67%

Credit card penetration

Latvia 21%
Eastern Europe & the CIS 22%
World 19%

Internet penetration

Latvia 89%
Eastern Europe & the CIS 76%
World 62%

Smartphone penetration

Latvia 74%
Eastern Europe & the CIS 62%
World 70%

Internet connectivity increased in the country from 86% in 2018 to 89% in 2021, 74.32% of internet users accessed it via their smartphones, an increase of almost 20% on 2018.

According to the Bank of Latvia, the most commonly used non-cash payment methods are cards (59.7%) and credit conversion (38.8%).

The number and value of non-cash payments carried out by Latvian payment service providers in 2021 was up by 6.2% and 21.5% respectively on 2020 figures. This is worth 579.8 m $US per day over 1.6 m transactions.

The most popular e-commerce website in Latvia in July 2022 with 8.04 m visits.

Future e-commerce trends (2021-2026)

B2C e-commerce ($US billion)

2022 0.7

2023 0.8

2024 0.9

2025 1.0

2026 1.1

E-commerce spending per capita ($US)

2022 355

2023 430

2024 506

2025 580

2026 644

E-commerce spending as % of GDP

2022 1.7%

2023 1.9%

2024 2.1%

2025 2.3%

2026 2.4%

Latvia

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 – 37%
Value of cross-border e-commerce – 0.2 bn $US
Online shoppers who have shopped cross-border – 60%

Top 3 cross-border shopping origin markets

China: NA
Germany: 15%
Lithuania: 9%

B2C e-commerce growth 20->21

Latvia 21.2%

E-commerce % of total retail

Latvia 9%
Eastern Europe & the CIS 12%
World 20%

E-commerce completed on a mobile device

Latvia 39%
Eastern Europe & the CIS 39%
World 53%

The Credit Card Split

Visa
Mastercard

[{"label":"Visa","value":"27"},{"label":"Mastercard","value":"73"}]

E-commerce market size ($US billion) 0.5 bn $US
E-commerce spending per capita ($US) 286 $US
E-commerce spending as % of GDP 1.5%

_{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.}

Latvia

Local Payment Methods

BitPay

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

Type Bank transfer, Gift card, Prepaid voucher 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 Paysafecard

Type Prepaid voucher Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 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