Turnover in taxi services and fast food doubled thanks to apps

According to analysis by SEB, most online purchases made by Estonian people continue to be related to travel and tourism. People spend the most on purchases from travel agencies, but websites providing hotel reservations and flight tickets follow close behind. However, the biggest leap last year could be seen in the turnover of e-purchases related to taxis and fast food.

“Travel agencies have been the most popular online purchase locations for years. However, in the last two or three years, the volume of online purchases from travel agencies has not increased much, staying at around 7 per cent per year. Meanwhile, online purchases of accommodation services have increased rapidly, almost reaching the volume of travel agencies within a couple of years and growing by 44 per cent last year. Buying plane tickets online is also gaining steady popularity,” Ainar Leppänen, SEB Board Member noted.

The biggest increase last year could be seen in online purchases related to taxi services (93 per cent) and fast food business (90 per cent), clearly due to the popularity of the respective apps. Gambling and lotteries showed a 58 per cent increase. There were almost no areas of decline in online trade, except brokerage services that saw a 12 per cent drop in online trade volume. A year before, online purchases of sports equipment had shown a 9 per cent decline but last year, the minus was turned to a 2 per cent plus again.

“E-commerce is growing both in Estonia and globally, and in almost every field. We also see that anyone who is able to remain even remotely active in this area will find their clients. Therefore, we expect continued growth on the market, but also the development of entirely new products and services that go hand in hand with the new technological possibilities,” Leppänen summarised.

SEB's online shopping analysis is based on a customer survey conducted by the bank on e-commerce, and an analysis of e-commerce card transactions during the period 2017–2019.

More information:

Evelin Allas
Communications Manager
Marketing and Communications Division
SEB Pank

Phone: +372 665 5649
Mobile: +371 511 1718
Address: Tornimäe 2, 15010 Tallinn
E-mail: evelin.allas@seb.ee