Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Insight & Strategy – E-commerce & logistics
E-commerce has ‘accelerated
by five years’ during lockdown
Consumer reliance on shopping via the internet increased
as the Covid-19 pandemic spread across Europe
‘People will rush
to the shops
once they
re-open, but
online shopping
will continue at
high levels.’
Raimund Paetzmann,
Zalando
E-commerce has become the biggest
driver of growth in the logistics sector.
‘E-commerce has moved from niche to
mainstream,’ says Jean-Luc Saporito, chief
development officer at P3 Logistic Parks. ‘The
momentum was already there, but Covid-19 has
accelerated this trend by five years, increasing
internet adoption and smart working but also
online shopping. I predict 2020 will be the year
of e-commerce.’
In the long weeks of lockdown European
customers have been forced to buy online,
many for the first time.
During the period of restrictive measures ‘every
day was Black Friday for Amazon and grocery
retailers’, says Logan Smith, head of European
logistics at Hines. ‘Retailers have said that the
war is over and Amazon won.’
Success brings its own problems, from inventory
management to staff availability to supply chain
issues, but for many consumers there will be no
going back to old habits.
‘For us it has been like Christmas for two
months running,’ says Raimund Paetzmann,
vice president, corporate real estate, at online
fashion and lifestyle retailer Zalando. ‘Obviously
people will rush to the shops once they re-open,
but online shopping will continue at high levels.’
In a snap poll of market experts conducted
by Real Asset Media, 53% said they believe
e-commerce penetration will remain high after
the crisis and grow further, while 46% think levels
will drop back from current levels but remain
higher than before the pandemic. Only 1%
believe the market will return to pre-crisis levels.
SET FOR GROWTH
‘Online sales are now 30% of the total but there
is no doubt that e-commerce is set to grow
further,’ says Ben Segelman, head of capital
markets UK&I and MLEMEA, at DHL Supply
Chain. ‘The epidemic has shown the extent to
which people rely on online shopping.’
E-commerce has a lot of room to grow in Europe:
across the Continent 63% of consumers buy
online, with a peak of 87% in the UK at one end,
along with Denmark at 84%, and a low of 23% in
Romania, just below Italy at 38% (see graph).
‘In Italy 62% of people are still not buying online,
so there is huge potential given the size of the
economy,’ says Anita Simaza, head of logistics
& industrial, Europe Capital Markets, at BNP
Paribas Real Estate.
The country is an example of the acceleration
caused by the epidemic. ‘Italy has seen a 300%
growth in online sales during the lockdown,’
says Saporito.
Individuals using the internet for ordering goods or services (%)
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
UK
Denmark
Sweden
■ Individuals buying online ■ Households with internet access in 2019
Norway
Netherlands
Germany
Finland
France
Ireland
Belgium
Czechia
EU-28
Austria
Slovakia
Spain
Hungary
Greece
Portugal
Poland
Italy
Romania
Source: BNP Paribas Real Estate/Eurostat
Issue 2 July 2020 | Real Asset Insight 21