2017 was a year of great growth for the e-commerce sector in Finland. In addition to sales, the average purchase, cards as a payment method and the use of mobile devices increased. Here are some figures from 2017, with Paytrail's payment service as the source.
The best and weakest sales days of 2017
TOP 5 ONLINE SALES DAYS
The best sales day of 2017 was Black Friday. Online stores were able to truly take advantage of Black Friday this year, and it showed. Many retailers continued their discounts throughout the weekend instead of just on Black Friday, and the Sunday of that week also made the TOP 5 list. Cyber Monday was not on the list this time, even though it has traditionally been an excellent day for online sales.
The busiest online sales days of the year were as follows:
- 24 November 2017 (Black Friday)
- 2 October 2017
- 4 September 2017
- 29 December 20126 November 2017
THE QUIETEST ONLINE SALES DAYS
The TOP 3 of the year's quietest days remained the same as in 2016. Christmas Day now also made the list. Finns still continue to focus on things than shopping on Christmas. December 29th was on the list as one of the busiest shopping days, so utilize this information when planning this year's sales.
The top 5 quietest sales days of the year were as follows:
- 23 June 2017 (Midsummer Eve)
- 24 December 2017 (Christmas Eve)
- 24 June 2017 (Midsummer Day)
- 25 December 2017 (Christmas Day)
- 11 February 2017
Average purchase
The average purchase amount continued to grow, albeit not quite at the same pace as the previous year. This can be influenced not only by purchasing power, but also by the fact that online merchants are trying to increase the value of a shopping cart with various actions.
| Year |
Average purchase amount |
| 2014 |
73.07 € |
| 2015 |
73.32 € |
| 2016 |
80,05 € |
| 2017 |
84,17 € |
Have the changes in payment method distribution stalled?
Despite the hot debate surrounding mobile payments, Finnish consumers are still opting to pay by bank when making online purchases. However, online bank payments are increasingly being used on mobile devices. Card payment continues to grow in popularity, and even the use of invoices has increased slightly.
| Year |
Banks |
Cards |
Invoice |
| 2014 |
91,5 % |
7,3 % |
1,2 % |
| 2015 |
90,9 % |
8,2 % |
0,9 % |
| 2016 |
89,86 % |
8,74 % |
1,4 % |
| 2017 |
89,35 % |
9,11 % |
1,54 % |
Payments with mobile devices continue to grow
Although consumers are adopting new mobile payment methods relatively slowly, mobile payments have increased considerably. 34.41% of payments were made using either a tablet or a phone, compared with 27.43% in 2016. This development is only expected to accelerate, and it will be interesting to see when this figure will exceed 50%. That will probably happen by 2020 as new, really easy-to-use mobile payment methods are already available in online stores and their adoption is likely to increase dramatically among consumers.
| |
Desktop |
Tablet |
Mobile |
| 2012 |
97,57 % |
1,49 % |
0,94 % |
| 2013 |
92,72 % |
4,60 % |
2,68 % |
| 2014 |
86,84 % |
8 % |
5,16 % |
| 2015 |
81,86 % |
8,81 % |
9,33 % |
| 2016 |
72,66 % |
8,96 % |
18,38 % |
2017
|
65,59 % |
8,07 % |
26,34 % |
Other articles about Finnish e-commerce and online payments
Significant increase in mobile purchasing in 2017
The e-commerce market in Finland is 8,5 billion euros
Media release: a new e-commerce survey - The Finnish consumer is clearly different from online buyers in other Nordic countries
Written by Laura Saari - Jan 31, 2018
