- Ecommerce maturity and buyer behaviour vary by region. Europe is a mature market, Spain combines European stability with faster growth and Latin America is high-growth but structurally complex.
- Across all locations, conversion happens after multiple touchpoints. Buyers compare, browse, abandon carts, and return later, making follow-ups essential to performance.
- Retargeting adapts to each market, becoming the fundamental optimisation for sustainable growth everywhere, turning paid traffic into real revenue.
Ecommerce Market Overview: Europe and Spain Compared with Latin America
The global ecommerce landscape continues to expand, but growth dynamics vary significantly by region. Europe represents a mature, highly competitive market, where Spain stands out as one of its fastest-growing economies, and Latin America remains a high-growth region driven by digital adoption and demographic momentum. Understanding these differences as well as each buyer’s profile behaviour is essential for brands looking to scale efficiently and profitably across markets.
Europe: A mature market focused on efficiency
Europe is one of the largest ecommerce markets globally, generating close to €1 trillion in online retail turnover in 2024, according to the Ecommerce Europe Report 2024. Internet penetration exceeds 90%, logistics infrastructure is highly developed, and digital payments are widely adopted. Growth has stabilised after the pandemic boom, shifting the focus from acquisition to efficiency and optimisation.
However, maturity also brings challenges such as high customer acquisition costs and intense competition throughout most categories, making growth increasingly dependent on retention, personalisation, and cross-border commerce.
We can identify the below European buyers patterns:
- Research-driven and price-conscious
- Highly accustomed to comparing brands, marketplaces, and offers
- Less impulsive, with longer consideration cycles
Consumers often visit multiple times before purchasing, across devices and channels. Trust, brand credibility, and consistent messaging play a critical role in conversion.
As a result, ecommerce performance in Europe is less about explosive user growth and depends heavily on retention strategies, remarketing, and personalised experiences. Operational efficiency is key.
Spain: One of Europe’s Fastest-Growing Ecommerce Markets
Within Europe, Spain is a standout performer. In 2024, Spanish ecommerce revenue reached €95.2 billion, growing over 13% year-over-year, well above the European average, according to the Spanish CNMC Data portal in 2025.
Key drivers of Spain’s ecommerce growth include:
- Strong mobile commerce adoption
- Rising cross-border shopping activity
- Increased consumer trust in online payments
- A younger, digitally native consumer base compared to other Western European markets, influenced by promotions, seasonal campaigns, and social proof
Spain combines European infrastructure and regulation with growth dynamics closer to emerging markets, making it particularly attractive for international brands expanding in Southern Europe.
While discovery is important, Spanish buyers often browse multiple times before converting, especially in categories like fashion, electronics, and travel. Cart abandonment is common, making follow-up communication essential.
Therefore, behaviour patterns reward smart retargeting and frequency management, especially during high-intent moments.
Latin America: High Growth, Structural Complexity
Latin America presents a very different ecommerce profile. While the total market size is smaller than Europe’s, LatAm is one of the worldwide, fueled by increasing smartphone penetration, expanding middle class, improving digital payment options, and a young population embracing online commerce. Markets such as Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia are leading the adoption.
LatAm ecommerce buyers respond to the following traits:
- Highly mobile-centric
- More impulsive, but also more cautious at checkout
- Strongly influenced by trust signals, payment flexibility, and reminders
However, LatAm ecommerce also faces structural challenges such as logistics fragmentation, payment method diversity, and economic volatility and currency risk. As a result, shoppers frequently abandon carts and return later once confidence is built.
This behaviour creates a strong opportunity for persistent, well-timed retargeting, especially when combined with localised messaging and payment reassurance.
Why these regions share Retargeting as the Smarter Ecommerce Optimisation: A strategic comparison
- Europe: High competition. Prioritises efficiency, retention, and margin optimisation
- Spain: Fast growth, mobile-driven browsing, promotion-sensitive buyers
- LatAm: Rapid expansion potential with higher execution complexity and need for trust-building
The opportunity lies in adapting strategy by region rather than applying a single growth model across all markets.
In mature markets like Europe, retargeting protects margins by improving conversion rates and lifetime value. In Spain, it captures high-intent users who are already engaged but need the right moment to convert. In Latin America, it builds trust, reduces friction, and brings hesitant shoppers back.
Across all three regions, one pattern is consistent: most users do not convert on their first visit. Scaling ecommerce today is not about driving more traffic, it’s about extracting more value from the traffic you already paid for.
Smart brands don’t treat retargeting as an add-on. They treat it as a core optimisation lever. In a competitive global ecommerce landscape, retargeting is not just a tactic, it’s what makes growth sustainable.
