Cluster Analysis Of E-Commerce In The European Union Countries

Abstract

E-commerce is the fastest growing segment in the trade sector and is of ever-increasing importance to the economy of the European Union. However, huge imbalances occur between individual countries when measuring the intensity of this type of trade. In the context of the new realities, the aim of the present study is, based on cluster analysis, to segment and identify the differences between the EU Member States in the field of e-commerce, and on this basis to formulate corresponding conclusions. Cluster analysis is applied to selected indicators (I) for measuring e-commerce in the European countries—I1. “E-commerce sales of enterprises”; I2. “Value of e-commerce sales”; I3. “Internet purchases by individuals”. The clustering of the studied data refer to 2024. Technical processing and calculations are made using IBM SPSS Statistics. As a result of the study conducted, the 27 Member States are differentiated into four homogeneous clusters, which allows them to be interpreted as: leading countries in the e-commerce segment; countries catching up with the leaders; countries moderately advancing in e-commerce; countries in an unenviably lagging position.