Denmark’s top ten online stores.
Photograph: iStock
Text: Mariano Anthony Davies
Together with Sweden, Denmark is an extremely mature e-commerce market. Both countries lead the way within the Nordic and Baltic regions. However, the top five players in the Danish top ten are not Danish companies.
The Danish market for e-commerce is characterised as 98% - meaning that Internet penetration is extremely high and, as such a perfect basis for e-commerce, has increased in nearly all service sectors. Although the pandemic explains the increase in the use of e-commerce services, this trend is expected to become part of a new normal post-pandemic. The e-commerce percentages in this article are based on 2018 official Danish trade figures.
Zalando seems to be the biggest online store in Denmark and Europe’s largest online platform for fashion representing 3.4% of all e-commerce. Its over 4000 brands are sold in 20 countries and it is acclaimed as the most innovative fashion platform in Europe. In addition, Zalando and Sephora, the world’s leading omnichannel prestige beauty retailer, announced a strategic partnership recently to create the ultimate online prestige beauty destination for millions of Zalando customers and that they would reinvent how they shop beauty online.
The American global platform Amazon represented 2% of Danish e-commerce trade. Nearly 2 million small and medium-sized enterprises worldwide use the Amazon platform to sell their products, which makes up approx. 60% of Amazon’s massive retail business. They have such a large commercial footprint that they can maintain a next day delivery on many of the products in their online stores.
Amazon is closely followed by H&M (Hennes & Mauritz AB) at 1.9% - a Swedish giant selling clothes since 1947 in Sweden and since 1967 in Denmark. The H&M Group has nearly 5.000 outlets in 73 countries, where they seek to sell quality clothes at affordable prices.
Wish.com was next in line at 1.8% - an American global group with a primary focus on electronic goods. Although it started in 2010, it has already become the sixth-largest global group selling electronic goods as over 500 million people shop online at wish.com, whose affordable prices seem extremely attractive.
"Over 5.77 million people are living in Denmark, of which 98% use the Internet."
Next was eBay at 1.7% and undoubtedly the largest global American marketplace available in 30 different countries (190 markets). Buy & sell electronics, cars, clothes, collectables & more on eBay - top brands, low prices & free shipping on many items, including several famous Danish designs in wood.
Coop was the sixth most significant e-commerce player in this group with 1.6% - a Danish concern established in 2002 with over 1.000 outlets and a combination of successful supermarket chain brands (Kvickly, SuperBrugsen, DagliBrugsen, Fakta and Irma).
The next, Nemlig.com, was noted for 1.3% of trade in 2018. This Danish player has experienced massive growth during the pandemic and may well be much higher than seventh today as the official e-commerce comparative figures for 2020 show colossal growth in e-commerce during the pandemic.
Finally, at 1.2% were Bilka (Danish supermarket chain that successfully organised that goods could be ordered and picked up in a drive-through lane), followed by Elgiganten (a Norwegian electronics and other household goods chain) also at 1.2% and finally Saxo Boghandel (a Danish bookstore chain).
Over 5.77 million people are living in Denmark, of which 98 percent use the Internet. Data from 2019 Statistics show that 86 percent of all Internet users shopped online the year before in Denmark. The average annual spending per online shopper in Denmark is now EUR 3,567 and increasing. Furthermore, eMarketer’s Worldwide Mobile forecast report showed that Denmark has the highest smartphone penetration rate globally at 77%.
A 2020 study shows Dankort to be by far the most popular payment method in Denmark. Dankort is the national debit card of Denmark and functions as a credit card abroad. Another popular payment method in Denmark is MobilePay, a mobile payment solution by Danske Bank that is also being offered in Finland and Norway. Research from Nets shows that cards are the most popular payment method in Denmark (62 percent), followed by MobilePay (25%) and PayPal (6%). Cards are popular across all ages, but especially among the older generations.
E-commerce in Denmark was worth EUR 19.5 billion in 2019 and is expected to be worth significantly more than EUR 22 billion by the end of 2021.