People prefer e-commerce while enterprises prefer cloud services

According to Katriin Põlluäär, analyst at Statistics Estonia, the growth of e-commerce is mainly driven by women. “Six out of ten women have ordered something from online shops in the last three months. Most bought are clothing, footwear, sports equipment, travel and accommodation services and tickets for various events,” said Põlluäär. Compared to last year, the amounts spent on e-purchases have increased: 26% of those who purchased something in the last three months spent more than 500 euros.

90% of households have internet connection at home and 82.6% have fixed broadband connection. Families with children are best equipped with the internet: 99% of them have internet connection. 75.5% of households have mobile internet connection, which is five percentage points less than last year.

89% of the population aged 16–74 in Estonia use the internet, and of those, 95% use it on a daily basis. The population aged 25–34 are most active internet users: 99.7% of them use it every day or almost every day. The internet is mostly used for sending e-mail and reading web publications, banking services and seeking information on goods and services.

57% of enterprises use paid cloud services

The use of cloud services has increased significantly in recent years. Slightly over a tenth of enterprises used cloud services six years ago, 22% four years ago, 34% two years ago and this year the services are used already by 57% of enterprises.

According to Tiina Pärson, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, many new cloud service providers have entered the market to facilitate the work of enterprises. “Service providers pay significantly more attention to security and reducing security risks than in the past. Security risks remain an issue but have not prevented the wider use of cloud services,” explained Pärson.

There are no significant differences in the use of cloud services between large and small enterprises: 51% of small enterprises with fewer than 20 employees and 74% of large enterprises with 250 and more employees use them. Of economic activities, enterprises engaged in information and communication and professional, scientific and technical activities use the services the most.

16% of enterprises use the Internet of Things

A new subject in this year’s survey was the Internet of Things (IoT), which is used by 16% of enterprises. It is a set of devices interconnected in particular via Wi-Fi, enabling monitoring of the surrounding environment, transmission of information between devices and automated remote control of different processes.

The Internet of Things is mostly used by enterprises engaged in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, transportation and storage, and water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities. More than half of the enterprises using the Internet of Things use it to monitor the movement of vehicles and goods, 38% to improve customer service and more than a third to optimise energy consumption.

More detailed data have been published in the statistical database.

For further information:

Kadri Kütt
Media Relations Manager
Marketing and Dissemination Department
Statistics Estonia
Tel +372 625 9181