The history of Spanish eCommerce is much more intense than it might seem. Despite its youth, eCommerce in Spain has already gone through different stages that have marked its evolution to what it is today. In this article we will try to summarize the main moments of a sector that already It is an indispensable part of our lives. Let’s go there!
History of eCommerce in Spain: index
Prehistory of eCommerce
Long before eCommerce revolutionized traditional distribution, catalog sales had already achieved it. For the first time you could buy without having to see, touch or try the productand could be sold in remote places where distances and access seemed insurmountable.
There are those who dare to cite catalog sales (United States, 1920) as a precursor to electronic commerce, which today moves billions of euros a day thanks to the exchange of goods and services without the need for direct physical contact, but the true story of eCommerce in Spain (in the world) begins in 1960 with the appearance of the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)a system that allowed companies to conduct electronic transactions and exchange business information.
Modern credit cards were already working in the market and life was about to take a 180 degree turn with the . The launch of the first network of connected computers (ARPANET, 1969) is the first step for the irruption of the Tim Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web (1989)which completely changed the way we buy, sell and communicate.
The first online purchase
1969 – 1989. Two decades of development and technological advances, tests and interconnected equipment that also allowed the invention of online shopping. The merit went to , that in 1979 managed to connect a modified home television to a computer transaction processing in real time through a conventional telephone line. That is, an online exchange system between individuals and companies that would give rise to eCommerce.
The first purchase would take five years to produce. In 1984 Jane Snowball, a 72-year-old Englishwoman, made the first order through the system created by Aldrich (Videotex) selecting the desired products through television from a menu that gave him access to a list of products of the chain of Tesco supermarkets. He bought margarine, eggs, and Corn Flakes.
Eclosion and rage of the dotcom
The 90s were frenetic years of announcements and premieres that definitely boosted electronic commerce. With the creation of eBay and Amazon in 1995 eCommerce becomes a massive sales channelalthough there were already previous online sales experiences that were beginning to test the first third-party payment systems using credit cards.
eBay started operating under the name of Auction Web. The first item he sold was a broken laser pointer and he was soon reconfigured to boost business. It changed its name and revolutionized online sales as auction portal that connects private and professional buyers and sellers from all over the world.
It also debuted in eCommerce with a different name than the current one. cadaver was originally an online bookstore that sold its first copy in 1995. It was renamed as amazon Y transformed global e-commerce by selling (almost) everything.
Pierre Omidyar and , founders of eBay and Amazon, keep their businesses at the forefront of eCommerce around the world, and around them, many others that emerged during the dotcom bubblea period of extraordinary growth for Internet-related companies that lasted from 1997 to 2000.
The history of eCommerce in Spain begins: from Benasque to the world
While Amazon and eBay prospered from the United States, in Benasque, Huesca, opened barrabes.com, . It was the online version of a physical store with loyal customers who were looking for a way to bring their items to buyers from all over Spain. They started selling in 1995, although it would be three years later when they managed to consolidate their business by creating a user group.
It was the beginning of the growth of . Everything around him was new and exciting. Internet users began to navigate and test the possibilities of a technology that would not be temporary. The technical problems seemed indecipherable, the speeds were ridiculous and the mobiles were only good for talking.
The democratization of Internet access as a starting point
But open and global nature of the network of networksits ability to connect a growing number of users, its commitment to intuitive interfaces to allow access to huge amounts of information make the Internet an inevitable success.
The appearance of the PC democratizes access to computers and the arrival of ADSL expands geographic coverage as well as signal quality. The commercial Internet takes holdfirst in companies and later in Spanish households, thanks to new payment models capable of conquering the general public: packaged service offers, free subscriptions and flat rates.
The development of eCommerce in Spain was possible not only as a consequence of the cheaper access to fixed broadband, but also because of the appearance and dizzying rise of smartphones and mobile broadband.
The first greats in the history of eCommerce in Spain
The English Court
It was one of the first to lead electronic commerce in Spain at the end of the 90s. In that initial stage, in which (1997), the El Corte Ingles supermarket became one of his star projects, to which he would soon add The Gourmet Club on-line. The year was 2001. In 2004 she opened a digital photo development store in collaboration with Kodak, and a year later, doublezero.com, a website designed to serve the members of its young fashion loyalty card. In 2010, a year before the arrival of Amazon in Spain, it announced a proposal that aspires to become the largest offer in fashion firms on the Internet.
By the time he launched his project in Spain (2011), he was already a leader in internal eCommerce with more than 5.5 million unique users and online billing more than 310 million euros. From that moment on, the company abandoned any doubts about electronic commerce and began a process of modernization and digital transformation.
A digital transformation that has continued with good evolution despite the pandemic: although the company reports losses amounting to 2,945 million euros (the first in its history), their online sales showed an increase of 132%which represents about 1,800 million euros.
From representing only 5.8% of the group’s retail sales in 2021, now e-commerce reaches 17.3% of total sales, in a year in which it recorded 760 million online visits. As another positive fact, the distribution giant explained that your online basket was 50% higher than the one purchased in store.
PcComponents
It is one of the reference computer stores in Spain, a personal project of Francisco Yúfera and Alfonso Tomas, that before making the leap to the Internet they started selling technology with a physical store. Components and peripherals was the offline experience prior to .
It was the year 2005, few sold online but the Internet was changing the way of doing business, so with an initial investment of 5,000 euros they created an eCommerce “«.
In 2007 they entered 6.5 million euros. Ten years later, in 2017, they already achieved 312 million in sales. They have expanded their catalog to 18,000 references and they no longer only offer components, they also sell televisions, household appliances and smartphones.
Its escalation continues from Alhama de Murcia: delivery service in 2 hours, an order collection network with more than 4,000 points throughout Spain, flat rate shipping, improvements in customer service and a with which it seeks to conquer eCommerce of Spanish electronics.
Inditex
Slowly but surely. she was not a pioneer in eCommerce, but in 10 years she has managed to transform her strategy to the point that online sales already represent 10% of the group’s global sales.
Since 2007, the date of its debut in electronic commerce with , each year it has inaugurated new eCommerce sober and adapted to each country, taking care of every last detail and imitating the offline shopping experience in a functional environment. Now, and has integrated the online channel in the group’s main markets: Europe, Asia, North America, Mexico, Russia, Japan…
The online strategy of has not been different from its offline strategy: opening of national online stores in each country, search for alliances only if strictly necessary (as in the case of China) and maximum care in the aesthetics of the stores. It represents the triumph of omnichannel, the sum of synergies, online/offline integration at the service of customers, a model that allows you to buy over the Internet, and pick up or return garments at any physical store.
The reconversion of Inditex from before the pandemic has led the textile company to outperform itself, by almost 50% compared to the same period the previous year.
If we take into account that at the beginning of the pandemic it suffered losses of 409 million euros, Inditex has shown us its enormous capacity for resilience and adaptability of strategy towards new online sales channels, in which it grew by 67% during the first quarter of 2021while the gross margin grew to 59.9% “as a result of the execution of the business model and the efficiency resulting from the full implementation of the digital transformation strategy”, according to the company.
privilege
was founded in 2006 by Lucas Carné and José Manuel Villanueva, two entrepreneurs from Barcelona. After its arrival on the market, it experienced a period of strong growth between 2008 and 2011, both in the Spanish market and in its internationalization process to Italy, Mexico and .
privilege is one of the startups with the best track record in the history of the digital sector in Spain and as entrepreneurs, Carné and Villanueva have been inspiration and support of the breeding ground for the entrepreneurial environment of Barcelona during all these years.
Today, Privalia belongs to the French group Sell Priveeafter a sale for 500 million euros, which became the largest sale operation of a Spanish eCommerce project in the young history of the sector. In November 2018, they leave the company, to which a new name arrives: Fabio Bonfá.
In January 2019, the French group announced after creating a new brand, Veepee, which will unite its current eCommerce and with which it hopes to accelerate its expansion throughout the continent. As he explained Jacques-Antoine Granjonco-founder and president of vente-privee, his goal is that in 2020, both vente-privee and Privalia and the other online stores of the group start to operate under the name of Veepee.
Groupalia
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