intelligent

EUROPE

Attributing to the growth are some of the biggest ecommerce start-ups in the world : Lithuanian online marketplace , Vinted , Swedish food waste fighter , Karma , Estonian ride-hailing app , Bolt and – of course – the British takeaway staple , Deliveroo .

New research from hosting . co . uk has ranked 30 countries across Europe to see which is the best for entrepreneurs to begin a consumer facing e-commerce start-up . To determine the ranking , hosting . co . uk looked at economic health , business environment , infrastructure setups , government tax incentives and the success history of e-commerce start-ups in each country .

They then scored each country on the quality of the start-up environment to give an overall ‘ hosting . co . uk score ’ out of 10 , ranking all 30 accordingly .

The top 10 countries in Europe for an e-commerce start-up are : 1 . United Kingdom , 2 . France , 3 . Spain , 4 . Germany = Netherlands , 5 . Ireland = Sweden = Lithuania = Italy , 6 . Switzerland .

Taking the top spot was the United Kingdom ( UK ) with a score of eight . The predicted GDP growth for 2021 is 4.2 % and although there is no specific Reduced Corporate Income Tax Rates for Small Businesses in the UK , the standard rate is reasonable at 19 %. There are also a number of other government programmes to help start-ups , including ‘ Start-Up Loan ’ which includes free support when writing a business plan and up to 12 months of free mentoring . The UK ’ s infrastructure is well developed , and the importance of transport and energy is reflected in the country ’ s investment strategy , with future investment being geared towards these two sectors in projects like the HS2 and the Elizabeth Line in London .

Some of the most prosperous e-commerce startups have also been launched in the UK , which is testament to the country ’ s receptiveness to up and coming platforms . In 2020 , takeaway app Deliveroo thrived ; the number of riders doubled from 25,000 to 50,000 and 20,000 new restaurants joined the platform . Meal kit retailer , Gousto , is another e-commerce start-up that thrived throughout last year , with its revenues for the first six months of 2020 surpassing the sales reported for the whole of 2019 . Some other successful e-commerce start-ups from the UK include Depop , Cazoo , Gymshark and Elvie .

Bottom of the overall ranking was Serbia . While some impressive tech start-ups have come out of Serbia , the country ’ s lower ranking was largely due to its less developed infrastructure , poor predicted GDP growth and business environment .

CEO of hosting . co . uk , Frederick Schiwek , said : “ E-commerce has thrived in the past year and it ’ s great to see some of the best platforms coming out of Europe . Silicon Valley used to be perceived as the centre of start-ups , but the past few years have shown how well equipped countries across the continent are to support these businesses – with the Coronavirus pandemic escalating this even further .” �