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French consumers are hunting online for rouge and the Spanish for sports products, while German shoppers are busy revamping their wardrobes.

These national shopping habits and more were revealed by global online marketplace AliExpress in its inaugural Consumer Insights Report released Monday.

Europeans are a continent of online shoppers – with 94% of consumers surveyed stating they had spent money online over the past three months.

“What we can see from this first Consumer Insight Report is an enduring passion for online shopping among Europeans, especially in categories that are all about personal self-expression – clothing and beauty,” AliExpress European Commercial Director Gary Topp said in a statement.

In France, beauty and health products were the sought-after online and across all product categories, 53% of shoppers spent over €288 ($315) online over the last three months.

Sports and entertainment topped the consumer category chart in Spain, where 58% of shoppers reported making related purchases, and in Germany, nearly 79% of consumers bought apparel digitally in the last three months.

Meanwhile, there’s a party happening across the Channel, where over a quarter of Brits stated they had recently bought wedding and event-related products online.

AliExpress surveyed over 4,000 consumers in France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom in late 2023, and the results overturned some popular cliches.

For instance, sorry French fashionistas, but German shoppers are the real digital trendsetters.

Across the four markets, the clothing category  – including underwear, sleepwear and shoes – proved the most popular, followed by beauty and health.

Meanwhile, it looks like Spanish siestas are fueling some seriously in-depth product research. While 29% of people surveyed in the other markets spent up to two hours online per week searching for items, a quarter of consumers in Spain devoted 9 to 10 hours to browsing online.

Online Marketplaces Take Top Spot

The AliExpress report also shed light on where people are choosing to spend their money.

“There is also a growing focus on digital marketplaces, alongside brands’ own retail websites as regular places to browse and buy from,” AliExpress’ Topp noted.

Marketplaces like AliExpress, a business-to-consumer e-commerce platform under the umbrella of the Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group, proved the most popular shopping venue.

Over the past three months, 50% of consumers stated they had shopped on an online marketplace, according to the report.

Age plays a large role in choice of shopping arena.

Shopping via social media was most popular amongst those aged between 16 and 24 years old (26%), dropping to 8% among those 55 or older, who said they preferred to visit retailers’ websites directly.

However, people of all age groups agree on one point – they were more likely to buy from influencer-sponsored posts than celebrity-backed ones.

This behaviour speaks to a growing global shift towards a more personal touch in e-commerce interactions. Livestreaming, which allows viewers to watch in real-time as the host tries on products and answers their queries, is helping meet this demand.

While a major force in Chinese e-commerce, livestreaming remains an emerging shopping channel in Europe, according to the report, where it is more popular amongst male consumers.

Which country do your shopping preferences put you in? Dig into Alizila’s Retail section for more insights