32.4% of Maltese enterprises engaged in online sales in 2022

32.4 per cent of Maltese enterprises conducted online sales over the course of 2022, marginally higher than in 2021 (30 per cent).

These findings were published by Eurostat on Monday, in which it was highlighted that 22.9 per cent of EU enterprises engaged in online sales during 2022. This was 0.1 per cent more than in 2021, and significantly higher than 2012 (16.4 per cent).

As a result, Malta’s results were 9.5 per cent above the EU average.

EU enterprises are classified as businesses with at least 10 employees or self-employed persons.

Out of all of the EU countries, there were distinct contrasts when it comes to how many engaged in online sales. With Malta ranking sixth, it was only outperformed by Lithuania (38.9 per cent), Sweden (38.1 per cent), Denmark (36.7 per cent), Ireland (35.1 per cent) and Spain (33.6 per cent).

On the other hand, the lowest shares were registered in Romania at 12.9 per cent, closely followed by Luxembourg (13.4 per cent) and Bulgaria (15.1 per cent).

Additionally, the share of enterprises conducting online sales varied significantly depending on the size of the enterprises. In 2022, 45.9 per cent of the EU’s large enterprises conducted online sales. 30.2 per cent of medium-sized enterprises engaged in e-commerce over the same year, while 20.8 per cent of small enterprises conducted online sales.

Small enterprises are classified as organisations with 10 to 49 employees or self-employed persons, while medium ones have 50 to 249 and large enterprises have 250 or more.

Online sales and the use of the internet in general have continued to experience increases over recent years, as more people embrace digital technology. This was propelled further through the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw many businesses make full use of e-commerce, as well as a number of other online services.