What this means for you
Dutch companies lead the four markets on CRM (54.12%), cloud CRM (39.8%), social media (83.76%) and AI in marketing and sales (12.34% of all firms, EU 6.92%). A Dutch company is more than twice as likely as the EU average to run its CRM in the cloud already.
The largest economy in the EU and a €58.1bn software market growing 9.9%, but cloud CRM at 12.41% of firms and 0.2% GDP growth in 2025. And email needs prior express consent, B2B included.
34.70% of European companies that use AI use it for marketing or sales, and Forrester's global survey has 94% of business buyers using AI while they buy. Expect the prospect to have read the comparison before you call.
The UK lets you email companies, France allows job-related B2B email on legitimate interest, Germany and the Netherlands require consent. The channel you open with depends on the market, not the sequence tool.
How to cite
Cite the primary source linked under each statistic, and this page as where you found it: Sell Successfully, European B2B Sales Statistics 2026, https://sellsuccessfully.io/european-b2b-sales-statistics/, checked 20 October 2026. Eurostat enterprise figures cover enterprises with 10 or more persons employed, financial sector excluded, unless the entry says otherwise. Where a statistic is global and not European, it says so.
How European companies sell online
Eurostat's e-commerce survey is the closest thing Europe has to a B2B buying census. It measures sales, so it tells you how much of the market already transacts digitally.
- 23.59%
of EU enterprises made e-commerce sales in 2024, up from 18.93% in 2014.
Eurostat, E-commerce statistics · 2024 · EU - 19.49%
of EU enterprises' total turnover came from e-sales in 2024.
Eurostat, E-commerce statistics · 2024 · EU - 11.07%
of EU enterprise turnover came from EDI-type sales in 2024: machine-to-machine ordering between businesses, more than all web sales together.
Eurostat, E-commerce statistics · 2024 · EU - 4.34%
of EU enterprise turnover came from web sales to other businesses and public authorities in 2024, against 4.04% from web sales to consumers.
Eurostat, E-commerce statistics · 2024 · EU - 48.48%
of large EU enterprises made e-sales in 2024, worth 24.24% of their turnover.
Eurostat, E-commerce statistics · 2024 · EU - 21.38%
of small EU enterprises made e-sales in 2024, generating 8.65% of their turnover.
Eurostat, E-commerce statistics · 2024 · EU - 43.03%
of enterprises in Lithuania made e-sales in 2024, the highest in the EU, against 14.57% in Romania, the lowest.
Eurostat, E-commerce statistics · 2024 · EU - 28.55%
of Dutch enterprises made e-sales in 2024. Belgium 31.83%, Germany 23.11%, France 19.44%, EU 23.59%.
Eurostat, dataset isoc_ec_eseln2 · 2024 · NL, BE, DE, FR - 21.72%
of Dutch enterprise turnover came from e-sales in 2024 (break in series). Belgium 29.51%, Germany 19.05%, France 14.25%.
Eurostat, dataset isoc_ec_evaln2 · 2024 · NL, BE, DE, FR - 18.73%
of Dutch enterprises sold to other businesses or public authorities through a website or app in 2024. Belgium 20.92%, Germany 13.96%, EU 13.8%.
Eurostat, dataset isoc_ec_eseln2 · 2024 · NL, BE, DE - 6.0%
of Dutch enterprise turnover came from web sales to businesses and public authorities in 2024 (break in series). Belgium 6.93%, Germany 3.96%, France 1.96%, EU 4.34%.
Eurostat, dataset isoc_ec_evaln2 · 2024 · NL, BE, DE, FR
How B2B buyers decide (global)
No European statistics office measures buying committees, so these are global figures from Forrester's survey of nearly 18,000 business buyers. They are not EU-specific; I include them because nothing European measures the same thing.
- 13 + 9
The typical B2B buying decision involves 13 internal stakeholders and nine external influencers.
Forrester, The State Of Business Buying, 2026 · 2025 survey · Global - 94%
of business buyers report using AI during their buying process.
Forrester, The State Of Business Buying, 2026 · 2025 survey · Global - 14 vs 7
Buying groups for purchases that include genAI features are twice the size of those without (14 members against seven).
Forrester, The State Of Business Buying, 2026 · 2025 survey · Global - 53%
of business buying cycles have procurement as a decision-maker, engaged from the start.
Forrester, The State Of Business Buying, 2026 · 2025 survey · Global - 60%+
of business buyers use a trial to evaluate solutions before buying.
Forrester, The State Of Business Buying, 2026 · 2025 survey · Global
Websites, social media, ads and CRM
Where European companies show up and how they keep track of customers. The Netherlands leads the four markets I sell into on almost every line.
- 79.01%
of EU enterprises had a website in 2025.
Eurostat, Digital economy and society statistics, enterprises · 2025 · EU - 91.8%
of Dutch enterprises had a website in 2025. Germany 91.73%, Belgium 89.0%, France 73.82%.
Eurostat, dataset isoc_ciweb · 2025 · NL, DE, BE, FR - 63.57%
of EU enterprises used social media in 2025: 89.09% of large enterprises and 60.59% of small ones.
Eurostat, Social media use by enterprises · 2025 · EU - 83.76%
of Dutch enterprises used social media in 2025. Belgium 81.11%, France 69.84%, Germany 63.02%.
Eurostat, dataset isoc_cismt · 2025 · NL, BE, FR, DE - 82.16%
of Dutch enterprises used social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook or Xing in 2023, against 59.03% across the EU (Belgium 78.6%, France 65.43%, Germany 57.42%). 2023 is the latest year for this indicator.
Eurostat, dataset isoc_cismt · 2023 · EU, NL, BE, FR, DE - 32.59%
of EU enterprises paid to advertise on the internet in 2024. Netherlands 41.5%, Germany 38.5%, France 27.75%.
Eurostat, dataset isoc_cismt · 2024 · EU, NL, DE, FR - 28.51%
of EU enterprises used CRM software in 2025.
Eurostat, Digital economy and society statistics, enterprises · 2025 · EU - 54.12%
of Dutch enterprises used CRM software in 2025, nearly twice the EU share. Belgium 41.42%, France 30.67%, Germany 29.64%.
Eurostat, dataset isoc_eb_iip · 2025 · NL, BE, FR, DE - 430M+
LinkedIn members in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, by LinkedIn's own count. LinkedIn doesn't publish a figure for the EU or for single countries.
LinkedIn Pressroom, About us · current · EMEA
Cloud software and the SaaS market
Eurostat measures who buys cloud services; Bitkom and Dealroom measure the money. There is no free, reputable figure for the size of the European SaaS market as a whole, so this page doesn't give one.
- 52.74%
of EU enterprises bought paid cloud computing services in 2025, mostly for email, office software and file storage.
Eurostat, Cloud computing use by enterprises · 2025 · EU - 84.67%
of large EU enterprises bought cloud services in 2025, 6.9 points more than in 2023.
Eurostat, Cloud computing use by enterprises · 2025 · EU - 27.91%
of EU enterprises that buy cloud services use cloud CRM; 30.12% use cloud ERP and 58.16% cloud finance and accounting.
Eurostat, Cloud computing use by enterprises · 2025 · EU - 68.49%
of Dutch enterprises bought paid cloud services in 2025. Belgium 61.62%, Germany 53.91%, France 40.41%.
Eurostat, dataset isoc_cicce_use · 2025 · NL, BE, DE, FR - 39.8%
of all Dutch enterprises ran CRM in the cloud in 2025, against 14.72% across the EU. Belgium 29.83%, Germany 12.41%, France 11.41%.
Eurostat, dataset isoc_cicce_use · 2025 · NL, BE, DE, FR - 62%
of Dutch enterprises using cloud services say they are highly dependent on them, among the highest shares in the EU after Finland (65.90%) and Denmark (64.98%).
Eurostat, Cloud computing use by enterprises · 2025 · NL - 54%
of German enterprises with at least 10 employees used paid cloud services in 2025; 23% of them run CRM in the cloud, and 23% ERP.
Destatis, press release 416 · 2025 · DE - €58.1bn
German software market forecast for 2026, up 9.9%.
Bitkom, press release (IDC data) · 2026 forecast · DE - €42.5bn
of that is cloud software, forecast to grow 21.9% in 2026.
Bitkom, press release (IDC data) · 2026 forecast · DE - 26.7%
of European venture capital went to SaaS in 2026 so far, against a 57.6% global benchmark. Live figure, updated 12 October 2026.
Dealroom, Enterprise Software and SaaS · 2026 to date · Europe - $168.7B
of venture funding went into SaaS startups worldwide in 2025.
Dealroom, Enterprise Software and SaaS · 2025 · Global - $4T
is the value of the European tech ecosystem, up from less than $1T a decade ago.
Atomico, State of European Tech 2025 · 2025 · Europe
AI adoption, and AI in sales
Marketing and sales is the most common thing European companies use AI for. That's Eurostat and CBS, not a vendor survey.
- 19.95%
of EU enterprises used AI in 2025, up from 13.5% in 2024 and 8.0% in 2023.
Eurostat, Use of AI in enterprises; Eurostat news 23 Jan 2025 · 2025 · EU - 55.03%
of large EU enterprises used AI in 2025, against 30.36% of medium and 17% of small ones.
Eurostat, Use of AI in enterprises · 2025 · EU - 42.03%
of enterprises in Denmark used AI in 2025, the highest in the EU, followed by Finland (37.82%) and Sweden (35.04%). Romania was lowest at 5.21%.
Eurostat, Use of AI in enterprises · 2025 · EU - 33.21%
of Dutch enterprises used AI in 2025 (break in series). Belgium 34.54%, Germany 25.97%, France 18.16%.
Eurostat, dataset isoc_eb_ai · 2025 · NL, BE, DE, FR - 34.70%
of EU enterprises using AI used it for marketing or sales in 2025, the most common purpose, ahead of business administration (31.05%).
Eurostat, Use of AI in enterprises · 2025 · EU - 12.34%
of all Dutch enterprises used AI for marketing or sales in 2025 (break in series), against 6.92% across the EU. Belgium 9.12%, Germany 9.1%.
Eurostat, dataset isoc_eb_ai · 2025 · EU, NL, BE, DE - 70.89%
of EU enterprises that considered AI but didn't use it named lack of expertise as the reason, ahead of unclear legal consequences (52.52%) and data protection concerns (48.83%).
Eurostat, Use of AI in enterprises · 2025 · EU - 1 in 6
Dutch companies with two or more people employed used AI in 2025, twice the share of two years earlier.
CBS · 2025 (provisional) · NL - 35%
of Dutch companies that use AI use it for marketing or sales.
CBS · 2025 · NL - 45%
of Dutch companies with 50 to 250 people used AI in 2025, up from 20% in 2023, the fastest rise of any size class.
CBS · 2025 · NL - 41%
of German companies with 20 or more employees use AI, up from 17% a year earlier, in a Bitkom survey of 604 firms. Destatis' official 10+ employee figure is lower; see the Eurostat row above.
Bitkom, press release 11 Mar 2026 · 2026 survey · DE - 87%
of sales organisations use some form of AI, for prospecting, forecasting, lead scoring or drafting emails (survey of 4,050 sales professionals in 22 countries).
Salesforce, State of Sales 2026 · 2025 survey · Global - 48%
of sellers say they lack the bandwidth for adequate cold outreach, despite spending nearly a full day a week on prospecting.
Salesforce, State of Sales 2026 · 2025 survey · Global - 75%
of EU companies should use cloud, big data or AI by 2030, the Digital Decade target. In 2025 the share was 63%.
Eurostat, Towards Digital Decade targets · target 2030 · EU
The rules for outbound
Not legal advice. These are the texts themselves and what the regulators say about them. Country by country, with what I do in each market, is in my post on B2B cold email law in Europe.
- Recital 47
GDPR: "The processing of personal data for direct marketing purposes may be regarded as carried out for a legitimate interest." The legal basis itself is Article 6(1)(f).
Regulation (EU) 2016/679, official text · in force since 2018 · EU - Art. 21
GDPR: anyone can object to direct marketing "at any time", and their data "shall no longer be processed for such purposes".
Regulation (EU) 2016/679, official text · in force since 2018 · EU - €20M or 4%
Maximum GDPR fine for breaching the basic principles, including the conditions for consent: EUR 20 million or 4% of worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher (Art. 83(5)).
Regulation (EU) 2016/679, official text · in force since 2018 · EU - Art. 13
ePrivacy Directive: email for direct marketing "may be allowed only in respect of subscribers or users who have given their prior consent". That rule applies to natural persons; for companies, each member state decides how to protect them (Art. 13(5)).
Directive 2002/58/EC, consolidated text · 2002, amended 2009 · EU - § 7 UWG
Germany: email advertising without the addressee's "vorherige ausdrückliche Einwilligung" (prior express consent) is always an unreasonable nuisance, with no exception for businesses. A phone call to a business needs only presumed consent.
Gesetz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb, § 7 · current · DE - 2 exceptions
Netherlands: B2B email marketing also needs prior consent, says the Dutch data protection authority, with two exceptions: an address a company published for this purpose, or a recipient outside the EEA (Telecommunicatiewet art. 11.7).
Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, Digital direct marketing · edited 9 Apr 2025 · NL - 5 years
Netherlands: the ACM says senders must be able to prove consent for up to five years after sending.
ACM, Spam voorkomen in uw reclame · current · NL - Job-related
France: the CNIL allows B2B email prospecting on legitimate interest when the message relates to the recipient's profession, such as software pitched to an IT director.
CNIL, La prospection commerciale par courrier électronique · current · FR - Companies: yes
UK: under PECR you can email any corporate body without consent; sole traders and some partnerships count as individuals. The ICO says this guidance is under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act.
ICO, Guide to PECR, electronic mail marketing · current · UK - €7.1bn
in GDPR fines reported from 25 May 2018 to 10 January 2026, across the EEA and the UK.
DLA Piper, GDPR Fines and Data Breach Survey 2026 · 2018 to 2026 · EEA + UK - €1.2bn
in GDPR fines issued in the year from 28 January 2025, roughly the same as the year before.
DLA Piper, GDPR Fines and Data Breach Survey 2026 · 2025 · EEA + UK - 443
data breach notifications a day on average in the year to 27 January 2026, up 22% from 363.
DLA Piper, GDPR Fines and Data Breach Survey 2026 · 2025 · EEA + UK
The size of the market
How many companies there are to sell to, and how concentrated the money is.
- 34 million
enterprises were active in the EU business economy in 2024, employing 164.5 million people.
Eurostat, Structural business statistics overview · 2024 · EU - 99.8%
of EU enterprises are small or medium-sized, and 94.4% are micro enterprises with fewer than 10 people.
Eurostat, Structural business statistics overview · 2024 · EU - 0.2%
of EU businesses are large (55,000 enterprises), and they generate 51.3% of net turnover.
Eurostat news, 9 Dec 2025 · 2024 (preliminary) · EU - 2,450,355
companies were registered in the Netherlands in the fourth quarter of 2026 (provisional), 2,027,790 of them one-person businesses.
CBS StatLine, table 81588NED · Q4 2026 (provisional) · NL - 3.2 million
German enterprises were SMEs in 2024, 99.3% of the total, yet they produced only 27% of turnover.
Destatis, Kleine und mittlere Unternehmen · 2024 · DE - €18.8tn
EU GDP in 2025. Germany is the largest economy at €4.5 trillion (23.8%), followed by France (15.8%) and Italy (12.0%).
Eurostat news, 6 Aug 2026 · 2025 · EU - 1.5%
real GDP growth in the EU in 2025; Germany grew 0.2%, among the smallest increases.
Eurostat news, 6 Mar 2026 · 2025 · EU, DE
What I looked for and left out
- Gartner's rep-free buying figures. Widely quoted, but I couldn't open the Gartner newsroom pages they come from, so they're not here.
- McKinsey B2B Pulse. Same reason: the source pages wouldn't load.
- LinkedIn members per country. LinkedIn only publishes EMEA. The country numbers that circulate are ad-tool estimates.
- European SaaS market size. Every total I found was behind Statista or analyst paywalls.
- Europe-only State of Sales data. Salesforce's survey includes the Netherlands, Germany, France and the UK but publishes no European split.
- Cold email reply rates by European country. Almost none exist; what does is on every public cold email benchmark, compared.
Method and caveats
- Primary sources only. Every figure was read on the source page, the official dataset or the law text itself between 19 and 20 October 2026. Nothing comes from a statistics roundup.
- Country rows come from Eurostat's official datasets (named in each entry). "Break in series" means the country changed its survey method that year, so compare with earlier years carefully.
- Years. Eurostat's e-commerce tables label data by survey year, which covers the previous year's sales. The entries here use the sales year.
- Where sources disagree. German AI use is about 26% in the official 10+ employee survey and 41% in Bitkom's 20+ employee phone survey; both are shown with their definitions. Eurostat's January 2025 release gives 8.0% for EU AI use in 2023, its later dataset 8.1%.
- Forecasts are forecasts. Bitkom's 2026 market figures are projections made in July 2026. Dealroom's 2026 share is a live figure and will move.