Online commerce is close to 30,000 million and opens up more opportunities for SMEs to sell outside Spain

E-commerce of thousands of SMEs continues to gain weight in the Spanish economy and is already approaching the 30,000 million euros of quarterly turnover.

In fact, between January and March 2026, sales online reached 29,643 million euros, 15.1% more than in the same period of the previous year, according to the latest data published by the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC).

Furthermore, during the first quarter there were more than 549 million transactions16% more than a year before. For SMEs, the evolution confirms that the channel online continues to expand its capacity to generate sales and that digital activity can also become a way to access clients located outside the national market.

More than half of the business online has an international destination

One of the most relevant data from the CNMC statistics is the weight that international operations are acquiring. 56% of the income generated by electronic commerce corresponded to operations carried out from Spain to abroadcompared to the 44% associated with purchases destined for Spain.

The difference is even greater if you look at the number of operations. 65.3% of sales were destined for other countries, while 34.7% corresponded to operations with a national destination.

In economic terms, purchases made from Spain to other countries generated 16,604 million euros during the quarter14% more than in the same period in 2025. The European Union concentrated 94.1% of these operations.

Among the activities with the highest turnover in these international purchases, auxiliary services to financial intermediation stood out, with 9.8% of the total, and clothing, with 8.6%.

The data thus show that the expansion of electronic commerce is not only occurring within Spain. The digital channel allows companies to access markets that previously required a much larger commercial and logistics structurea particularly relevant possibility for SMEs seeking to expand their customer base.

And for a small business, selling online Outside Spain it can allow expanding the market without the need to open physical establishments in other countries. However, the opportunity also requires resolving issues such as logistics, payment methods, customer service, languages ​​or adapting the offer to each market.

Foreign sales to Spanish companies also grow

However, the opposite flow also maintains a positive evolution. Because purchases made from other countries to Spanish companies reached 3,833 million euros in the first quarter, according to the same report, which is 15.3% more than a year before.

In this case, 64.8% of the operations came from other countries in the European Union. And specifically, tourism concentrates an important part of this activity: the branches linked to travel agencies, air and land transportation, vehicle rental and hotels together represented the 61.6% of purchases made from abroad destined for Spain.

For its part, the national market also maintains a strong growth rate. The operations carried out between buyers and sellers located in Spain generated 9,207 million euros17% more year-on-year.

The combination of both data draws a scenario in which electronic commerce offers Spanish companies two avenues for growth: increasing sales within the national market and using internet to access consumers and companies in other countries.

E-commerce opens new markets, but also increases competition

And for SMEs, this second route can be especially relevant. Because digital internationalization allows testing the demand for certain products or services in other markets before undertaking larger investments.

However, the growth of ecommerce It also increases competition. Specifically, a Spanish SME that uses the Internet to sell outside its borders competes at the same time with companies in those markets and with large international platforms.

Therefore, the increase in sales online It does not mean that any business will automatically grow by opening a digital store. But it does mean, in fact, that the opportunity is in use the channel to find new customers and marketsbut accompanied by a commercial, logistical and customer service strategy adapted to each audience.