Online shopping in Cyprus grew by a faster rate than the EU average as Covid-19 restrictions accelerated an already growing trend in favour of re-commerce, but still remained among the lowest in the bloc.

Figures released by Eurostat on Wednesday show that in the 12 months prior to the 2021 survey, 90 per cent of people aged 16 to 74 in the EU had used the internet, 74 per cent of whom had bought or ordered goods or services for private use.

Online shopping increased by 1 percentage point (pp) compared with 2020 (73 per cent of internet users) and by 11 pp compared with 2016 (63 per cent).

For Cyprus the 2021 figure was 57 per cent, up 5pp from 52 per cent in 2020 and 19 pp from 38 per cent in 2016.

The highest shares of internet users who bought or ordered goods or services over the internet in the 12 months prior to the survey were recorded in the Netherlands (94 per cent), Denmark (92 per cent) and Sweden (89 per cent). On the other hand, fewer than 50 per cent had shopped online in Romania (44 per cent) and Bulgaria (42 per cent).

Over the last five years, the largest increases in online shopping among internet users were recorded in Czechia (+27 pp), Slovenia, Hungary and Romania (all +26 pp), as well as Croatia and Lithuania (both +25 pp).

In the three months prior to the survey, the most common online purchases of goods were clothes (including sport clothing), shoes or accessories (ordered by 68 per cent of online shoppers).

Wearables were followed by deliveries from restaurants, fast-food chains and catering services (31 per cent), furniture, home accessories or gardening products (29 per cent), cosmetics, beauty or wellness products (27 per cent), followed by printed books, magazines or newspapers (25 per cent), sports goods (excluding sport clothing) (24 per cent), computers, tablets, mobile phones or their accessories (23 per cent) and children’s toys or childcare items (20 per cent).