According to the study “E-Commerce & Last Mile 2023”, revenues from online commerce “have been increasing consistently since 2017”, with this trend amplified “due to the lockdown period during the Covid-19 pandemic, in which the consumption habits of the Portuguese underwent major changes and new online stores emerged“.

Although it points out that the majority (62%) of companies in Portugal have an online presence – website or social networks –, the study notes that “only 16% take advantage of these platforms to generate business”, that is, they have an active sales channel on the internet.

For companies that use digital tools, the estimated weight of sales through these platforms is 23 percent, with the sectors of “clothing and fashion”, “electronics” and “beauty, personal and domestic hygiene” being the categories with the highest volume of sales.

The work also shows that 64 percent of respondents intend to shop online again in the future and 71 percent would choose this option as an alternative to going to a physical store, highlighting “the convenience, availability and variety of products” as “the added value” of online shopping.

Among Portuguese Internet users, more than half (53.4 percent) say that they have made online purchases in the last year, which represents an increase of six percentage points compared to the pre-pandemic period.

Deloitte partner José Augusto Silva states that “the digital presence of companies is increasingly important, because that is where the market is”, maintaining that “the first step towards success in this area of enormous explosion is to know and understand what end consumers are looking for”.