Exploring Online Shopping Development and Consumer Digital Skills in EU Countries

The inexorable advancement of digital technologies and their ubiquity in electronic commerce cannot be denied. Nevertheless, consumers must possess a certain level of digital competence. The principal objective of this study was to assess and compare the evolution of online shopping and the development of consumers’ digital skills across EU countries from 2017 to 2021. It also aimed to examine the existence of significant shifts and disparities relative to the European Union average. The numbers of consumers with digital skills exhibited fluctuations, with some EU countries experiencing declines. When evaluating the proportion of online consumers against the proportion of consumers with digital skills, generalizations were challenging, as certain countries had similar values, while others exhibited higher percentages of consumers with digital skills compared to online consumers, and vice versa. These findings can serve as a foundation for online merchants seeking to promote the enhancement of consumers’ digital skills and, consequently, the growth of electronic commerce.