Recent Finnish Commerce Federation survey: domestic e-commerce grew by 5.3 per cent in 2025 – social media still guides the purchasing behaviour of older age groups

This research data can be seen in the Finnish Commerce Federation’s recent survey “Verkkokauppa NYT – Digikuluttaja ja Suomen verkkokauppamarkkina 2025–2026”. According to the e-commerce survey, Finns spent approximately EUR 5.6 billion on online purchases from domestic and foreign online stores last year. E-commerce purchases from Finland grew slightly faster than those made from abroad, even though e-commerce from China to Finland grew strongly again.

“We predict that the growth of the consumer market of e-commerce will accelerate slightly next year. However, the continuation of the war in Iran may slow down growth if logistics costs increase and consumers become more cautious,” says Jaana Kurjenoja, Chief Economist of the Finnish Commerce Federation.

Finns purchased household technology, fashion, cosmetics and health products the most online. Food items and beverages from Finland and abroad have become the fourth largest product group in e-commerce.

Online stores for food items, cosmetics and health products were also among the fastest growing. In addition, the e-commerce of household technology grew significantly, while the e-commerce of fashion declined slightly.

“Although the demand in the interior design sector in Finland has been weak in recent years, its e-commerce started to grow. Consumers have also become online buyers more than before in this product group,” says Kurjenoja.

Social media now also works as a search engine and a shop

The impact of social media is no longer limited to young consumers: 39 per cent of Internet users over the age of 50 say that social media influences their purchases. In addition, more than half of Finnish Internet users aged 18–64 say that they get impulses to buy through social media.

Increasingly, social media also works as a search channel for products and a platform for direct purchases. According to the survey, 27 per cent of Internet users under the age of 65 search for product information directly from social media, and as many as 43 per cent of Internet users under the age of 30 do the same.

The significance of influencer marketing in Finns’ purchasing behaviour has also increased. Approximately one in four digital consumers say they have bought a product based on an influencer’s or celebrity’s social media advertising. Influencer marketing is particularly targeted at people under the age of 30, but it also increasingly affects older age groups.

In addition, a quarter of Finnish adults have made purchases directly on social media platforms. As many as 38 per cent of people under the age of 30 have done the same.

One in ten euros spent on online purchases ends up in China

Competition with international online stores is intensifying. The popularity of Chinese online stores continued to increase in Finland in 2025, and one in ten euros spent on online purchases now ends up in China.

The average price of purchases from Chinese online stores has halved in two years, but the total value of purchases has increased sevenfold in the same time.

“A typical Finn who makes online purchases from China is a man aged 35–49 who lives outside the Helsinki Metropolitan Area,” says Kurjenoja, describing the users of Temu.

The Chinese e-commerce platform Temu has rapidly grown in popularity and has become the seventh most popular online store in Finland in terms of the number of visits.

“However, eight of the ten most popular online stores in terms of the number of visits are Finnish, which means that domestic e-commerce can, at its best, respond well to foreign competition,” says Kurjenoja.

Artificial intelligence increasingly controls e-commerce traffic

The survey also highlights the growing significance of artificial intelligence for the customer traffic of online stores.

Of the 20 most popular online stores in Finland, Zalando (29 per cent of all referral traffic) and Ikea (28 per cent) received the most traffic referring to AI-based searches between August 2025 and January 2026. Of the most popular domestic online stores, AI-based traffic has been utilised particularly by Varuste.net (26 per cent) and Sokos (18 per cent).

However, the use of artificial intelligence can be a challenge, especially for small domestic online stores. Search engine optimisation is not yet smooth for everyone, and the quality of the data and the small size of the mass of data are slowing down the deployment of AI tools.

“In Finland, funding for the development of tools based on generative AI is lagging behind Sweden, for example. However, they are key from the point of view of the development and internationalisation of consumer services,” says Kurjenoja.

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For further information, please contact:

Jaana Kurjenoja, Chief Economist, Finnish Commerce Federation, tel. +358 (0)40 820 5378, jaana.kurjenoja(at)kauppa.fi