The latest publication from Germany-based online research firm yStats.com, “Snapshot: Europe Subscriptions and Recurring Payment Market 2021” provides insights into the current state and advances of the subscriptions and recurring payment markets worldwide and in Europe specifically. Among other findings, the publication reveals that despite moderate growth rates of the subscriptions market in the next four to five years, the absolute sales value was set to follow an upward trend.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the trend for subscriptions and recurring payments
The subscriptions and recurring payment markets are still rather young, but they are developing fast, especially after the onset of COVID-19. According to a 2021 survey cited in the new yStats.com publication, almost 40% of respondents signed up for new services during the pandemic, as they expected these services would help them to navigate these times better. For example, in the United Kingdom, around 20% of the new box subscribers chose this option because they were not able to visit physical store. Furthermore, for businesses in in 2021, the fact that even a higher share did so because they simply enjoy the subscription model must be revealing. Generally, in the countries considered in the present market report, absolute figures of the subscriptions market sales values were set to grow significantly in the near future. Despite this, when it comes to growth rates, they are expected to be less pronounces in the time span of four to five years. This is, however, something to expect, since as the market mature, they grow more slowly. Regarding the specific payment methods, across select developed global markets, the majority B2C companies chose digital wallets for recurring payments, while B2B companies preferred bank wire transfers. Lastly, global B2B & B2C businesses made their plans to invest substantially in expanding or upgrading recurring payment service implementation, and a further significant share of enterprises plan to implement similar solutions in 2021.
Certain product categories are especially successful inside the European subscription business model
Both globally, and in Europe specifically, “Boxes”, “Video”, and “Multiservice subscriptions” were the top three categories for consumers to have a subscription in 2020 and in 2021 and were expected to remain the leaders in 2025. Additionally, while in Europe the ranking was expected to stay the same in 2025, among the global consumers, “Multiservice subscriptions” were forecasted to outpace “Video”, according to the new yStats.com report. Specifically in the United Kingdom, the top platforms to subscribe to were Amazon, followed by Graze and Nextunlimited. Moreover, among the subscribers, three quarters were subscribed to more than one service. At the same time, in France, “boxes” were the top subscriptions product category in 2021, and this was estimated to remain the leader even in 2025.
