Best-selling products in Europe: the official ranking and what sells with COD
· by Ariel Patrício · in Cash on Delivery · 22 min read
Clothing leads in all 12 markets, cosmetics rank third and supplements swing from 13% to 37% by country. The official ranking, what it does not tell you and a method to validate a product before shipping stock.
The best-selling products online in Europe are clothes, shoes and accessories: in 2024, 70% of people who had bought online in the previous three months bought something in that category, according to Eurostat. Next come cosmetics (31%), home and garden (30%), sports goods (26%) and medicine and supplements (24%). Clothing leads in every one of N1's 12 European markets.
Updated on October 8, 2026.
Search for "best-selling products in Europe" or "winning products Europe" and you get supplier marketplaces, dropshipping tool blogs and lists of "trending items" with no source. This article takes the opposite route. It starts from the only official survey that asks Europeans what they buy online, Eurostat's annual survey on internet use, and cross-checks it with public reports from e-commerce associations.
Then it adds a practical layer for non-EU sellers: which of these categories make sense with cash on delivery (COD) and stock held in Europe, what products from outside the EU (with Brazil as a worked case) realistically sell there, and how to test a product before you ship a batch across the Atlantic.
This article uses public data only, with sources. It uses no internal N1 data about which products sell. Where no public data exists, the text says so.
What are the best-selling products online in Europe?
Clothes, shoes and accessories are by far the category that most people buy online in the European Union. The table below ranks physical goods from Eurostat's isoc_ec_ibgs table, with 2024 data. 2024 is the latest year in which Eurostat asked about physical goods; the 2025 module of the survey covered services such as tickets, transport and streaming.
| Rank | Category (Eurostat) | Share of people who bought online in the last 3 months (EU, 2024) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clothes (including sportswear), shoes or accessories | 70.3% |
| 2 | Deliveries from restaurants and fast-food chains | 32.9% |
| 3 | Cosmetics, beauty or wellness products | 31.3% |
| 4 | Furniture, home accessories or gardening products | 29.9% |
| 5 | Sports goods (excluding sportswear) | 25.6% |
| 6 | Printed books, magazines or newspapers | 24.4% |
| 7 | Medicine or dietary supplements such as vitamins | 24.3% |
| 8 | Computers, tablets, mobile phones or accessories | 22.8% |
| 9 | Other physical goods | 20.6% |
| 10 | Children's toys or childcare items | 20.1% |
| 11 | Cleaning or personal hygiene products | 19.0% |
| 12 | Food or drinks from stores or meal-kit providers | 18.3% |
| 13 | Consumer electronics or household appliances | 17.9% |
| 14 | Bicycles, vehicles or spare parts | 9.2% |
The European E-commerce Report 2025 by Ecommerce Europe and EuroCommerce reproduces the same ranking on page 15 and adds a figure that matters to cross-border sellers: in 2024, 20% of EU online shoppers bought from sellers outside the EU, against 83% who bought from sellers in their own country.
How to read this number
The metric is a share of shoppers, not a share of revenue. "70%" means 7 out of 10 people who bought online in the previous three months bought at least one item of clothing, footwear or accessories. It says nothing about how much they spent, how many units they bought or how much of European e-commerce revenue comes from fashion.
Three more caveats:
- Categories are broad. "Clothes, shoes or accessories" lumps together a fast-fashion T-shirt, branded trainers and a handbag. "Medicine or dietary supplements" mixes online pharmacy with vitamins.
- The base is online shoppers, not the population. In 2025, according to the isoc_ec_ib20 table, 73.6% of people aged 16 to 74 in the EU bought something online in the previous 12 months. In countries where fewer people shop online, the same percentage means fewer people.
- There is no official ranking of individual best-selling products. Nobody publishes, with an open method, the SKU or niche that sells most in Europe. A list promising that is selling something else.
Eurostat's E-commerce statistics for individuals page sums up 2025: 78% of EU internet users bought goods or services online, up from 62% in 2015.
Does the ranking change by country?
Yes, more than the EU average suggests. Clothing is the top category in all 12 European markets where N1 runs cash on delivery, but cosmetics, supplements, electronics and home goods vary widely. The table uses the same Eurostat metric (share of people who bought online in the previous three months, 2024) and, in the last column, the share of people who bought online in the previous 12 months in 2025.
| Country | Clothes and shoes | Cosmetics | Medicine and supplements | Phones and computers | Home and garden | Sports goods | Bought online in 12 months (2025) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poland | 77.3% | 40.1% | 19.8% | 11.7% | 21.3% | 17.9% | 69.7% |
| Spain | 71.7% | 36.6% | 22.5% | 29.6% | 33.9% | 33.9% | 70.8% |
| Portugal | 73.1% | 31.4% | 22.0% | 28.4% | 28.0% | 28.1% | 60.5% |
| Romania | 78.6% | 34.5% | 16.7% | 14.4% | 9.5% | 20.8% | 60.3% |
| Hungary | 63.7% | 30.2% | 27.2% | 23.1% | 22.8% | 22.1% | 67.7% |
| Bulgaria | 79.0% | 32.7% | 19.3% | 20.7% | 14.5% | 32.7% | 51.2% |
| Croatia | 76.0% | 26.5% | 12.8% | 20.3% | 22.8% | 21.3% | 61.7% |
| Greece | 75.6% | 27.6% | 36.6% | 23.4% | 12.6% | 36.2% | 68.0% |
| Germany | 72.6% | 29.3% | 30.8% | 25.4% | 34.3% | 28.4% | 81.4% |
| Italy | 64.0% | 26.3% | 23.0% | 22.2% | 38.1% | 21.7% | 56.2% |
| Slovakia | 69.5% | 28.0% | 34.1% | 15.0% | 25.2% | 24.5% | 78.8% |
| Czech Republic | 60.4% | 31.6% | 27.2% | 22.4% | 20.3% | 30.4% | 83.7% |
| EU average | 70.3% | 31.3% | 24.3% | 22.8% | 29.9% | 25.6% | 73.6% |
Source: Eurostat, tables isoc_ec_ibgs (2024) and isoc_ec_ib20 (2025), extracted on October 8, 2026. These are sample survey results: gaps of 2 or 3 points between countries should not be read as real differences.
What stands out:
- Poland is the cosmetics market. 40.1% of Polish online shoppers bought cosmetics in the previous three months, nine points above the EU average and the highest of the 12.
- Romania and Bulgaria concentrate on clothing. Nearly 8 in 10 online shoppers bought fashion, while home and garden sits far below average (9.5% in Romania). These are also the countries where the fewest people shop online. One possible reading, which the data alone does not prove: where e-commerce is younger, online buying still revolves around cheap, easy-to-exchange items.
- Medicine and supplements are strong in Greece, Slovakia and Germany (36.6%, 34.1% and 30.8%) and weak in Croatia and Romania (12.8% and 16.7%). Because the category includes online pharmacies, part of the gap may come from national rules on selling medicines online rather than appetite for vitamins.
- Italy, Germany and Spain buy furniture and home goods online well above average. In Greece and Romania the category barely registers.
- Phones and computers look weak in Poland (11.7%) in the three-month window. Do not read that as "Poles do not buy electronics online": in the 12-month window of the Polish report below, electronics rank third.
To match this picture against payment habits, see COD by country in Europe and the COD Europe Map 2026.
What do national reports say?
National association reports confirm Eurostat's picture and add detail, but each uses its own method and they are not comparable with each other. The most complete one among the 12 markets is Polish.
The E-commerce w Polsce 2026 report, by Gemius with Polskie Badania Internetu, IAB Polska and Kozminski University (ALK), surveyed 1,874 Polish internet users aged 15 and over between July 14 and 22, 2026. Among those who bought online in the previous 12 months:
- fashion (clothes, shoes and accessories) was bought by 82%;
- cosmetics by 64%;
- electronics by 57%;
- books and multimedia by 54%;
- health products by 53%;
- groceries and household chemicals by 52%.
The same report shows the size of Asian competition: 56% of Polish online shoppers say they bought on Temu, AliExpress or Shein in the previous 12 months, and 74% of those who bought on these platforms in the last month bought fashion. If you plan to sell cheap clothing in Poland, that is your customer's price anchor. The report also finds that 13% paid for at least one order "za pobraniem", on delivery, in the previous 12 months.
In Romania, the online retailers' association ARMO does not publish a category ranking in the European report, but says on page 80 that non-EU platforms put pressure on local retail especially in fashion and electronics. Same message as Poland: in the most-bought categories, the competitor is global and the price is low.
For the other markets we found no recent public category ranking with a described method. There, Eurostat is the best available source.
Which categories fit cash on delivery with local stock?
No category is good or bad for COD by definition; what decides is the mix of ticket size, weight, refusal risk and compliance cost. The table below is an analysis framework, not data: it sets out the questions we ask before looking at any product. Ticket and weight bands are qualitative and only compare categories with each other.
| Category | Typical ticket | Weight and volume | Refusal or return risk | Rule that matters | Reading for COD with local stock |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clothes and shoes | Low to medium | Light | High: wrong size and exchanges | Textile composition label; 14-day withdrawal right | Works with a solid size chart and few sizes; Asian fast fashion sets the price |
| Cosmetics and hair care | Low to medium | Light, but liquid | Medium: buyer's remorse and expectations | EU responsible person, CPNP notification, safety report | Good fit if compliance is sorted before the batch |
| Dietary supplements | Medium | Light | Medium to high if the promise is inflated | National notification, local-language label, authorised claims only | Classic COD fit in Central and Eastern Europe, with honest copy |
| Phones, accessories and electronics | Medium to high | Light to medium | Medium: defects and compatibility | CE marking, low voltage, EMC or radio equipment directives | Only with real technical files; a high ticket raises the value at risk per refusal |
| Home and garden | Medium | Heavy or bulky | Medium | General safety (GPSR) plus product-specific rules | Outbound and return freight eat the margin; prefer compact items |
| Sports and fitness | Medium | Variable | Medium | GPSR; CE if electrical | Good for compact accessories; poor for heavy equipment |
| Toys and childcare | Low to medium | Light to medium | Medium | Toy Safety Directive, CE marking | Heavily policed category; only with a supplier that provides test reports |
| Food (coffee, açaí) | Low | Medium | Low to medium | Food labelling; origin rules and, for coffee, the deforestation regulation | Ticket too low for COD in most cases |
Three ideas behind the table:
- Low tickets and COD do not mix well. With cash on delivery you pay outbound shipping on every dispatched order and lose it when the customer refuses (the RTO cost). On a 15 € product, one refusal wipes out the profit from several delivered orders. The full maths is in how to calculate COD margin.
- Weight and volume count twice. Outbound shipping is expensive, and so is the return leg after a refusal.
- Compliance is a fixed cost. Notifying a cosmetic or certifying an electronic product costs the same for 100 or 10,000 units. A test product with expensive compliance only makes sense if the plan is to scale.
Which non-EU products actually sell in Europe? The Brazilian case
Products from outside the EU with a realistic shot are those with proven local demand and a clear regulatory path. Brazil is a useful case because it has public data: hair cosmetics are the strongest example, while coffee, açaí and flip-flops exist but come with big caveats. Nobody publishes a ranking of "best-selling Brazilian products in Europe" in online retail. What exists is export and company data, which tell part of the story.
Hair cosmetics
This is the Brazilian category with the strongest data. According to the Brazilian cosmetics industry association ABIHPEC, beauty exports reached US$ 1.061 billion in 2025, up 20.1%, and hair products were the main driver with US$ 301 million (up 29.8%). About 80% of exports still go to Latin America, led by Argentina; the release gives no European ranking. On the demand side, cosmetics are the third most-bought category online in the EU and exceed 40% in Poland.
The barrier is regulation. Regulation (EC) 1223/2009 requires a responsible person established in the EU, a safety report, notification on the CPNP portal before sale and a label in the language of the country. An ingredient allowed at home may be banned or restricted in the EU. The European Commission's Safety Gate 2025 report shows the scale: cosmetics accounted for 36% of the 4,671 dangerous-product alerts in 2025, and a single fragrance banned since 2022, BMHCA (lilial), triggered 1,278 alerts.
Açaí
Frozen açaí pulp needs a cold chain, which rules it out of most COD operations run from a standard warehouse. As a powder or capsule it becomes something else: sold as a supplement, it falls under notification and claims rules. The Finnish Food Authority states that açaí berry is not considered a novel food in the EU, but extracts and specific uses may be classified differently: check the Commission's Novel Food status Catalogue. And there is no authorised claim for weight loss with açaí.
Coffee
Europe buys a lot of Brazilian coffee, but it buys the beans, not the finished pack. In the 2025/26 crop year, according to Brazil's coffee exporters council Cecafé, Brazil exported 38.5 million bags, and Germany became the top buyer (5.2 million bags, 13.5% of the total), with Italy and Belgium also near the top. Roasted and ground coffee was only 0.1% of the volume. European industry does the roasting. Brazilian coffee in European online retail is a specialty niche with a low ticket for COD.
Then there is the deforestation regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/1115), which covers coffee. According to the European Commission, it applies from December 30, 2026 for medium and large operators and from June 30, 2027 for micro and small ones. Whoever places coffee on the EU market will need due diligence on its origin.
Flip-flops and beachwear
Havaianas shows there is European demand for Brazilian flip-flops. In its Q4 2025 earnings release, Alpargatas reports 9.2 million pairs sold in Europe in 2025, up 8%, with net revenue in the region up 14%. But that is a brand with its own distribution. Reselling it requires authorised supply, and copies are counterfeits. Generic "Brazilian-style" flip-flops compete on price with Asia, carry a low ticket and sell mostly in summer.
What about the EU–Mercosur agreement?
The trade agreement has been provisionally applied since May 1, 2026 and cuts tariffs on many products from Mercosur countries, provided they meet the rules of origin. That mainly helps sellers who move stock in bulk to an EU warehouse, not those who ship parcel by parcel. Details in our post on the EU–Mercosur agreement and e-commerce, and the charge on small parcels in our post on the end of the de minimis and the 3 € duty.
How do you validate a product before shipping stock?
Validate in stages, from cheapest to most expensive: public demand, compliance, unit economics, refusal scenarios, trend direction and a real test at small volume. Only the last one costs serious money.
1. Demand: does the category exist in that country?
Start with the country table above. If your product's category sits well below average in the target country (home and garden in Romania, for example), you will be educating the market, and that costs ad spend.
2. Compliance: what does it cost to be allowed to sell?
List what the product needs before the first order: cosmetic or supplement notification, CE marking, textile label, local-language label. Every product also needs an economic operator in the EU under the GPSR, covered in our post on the GPSR and the EU responsible person. If compliance costs do not work for a test batch, the product is not a test product.
3. Unit economics: does the product survive refusals?
Run the numbers with conservative assumptions, using the funnel method from our COD margin guide. A hypothetical example with round numbers, only to show the mechanics:
- price paid at the door: 39 €;
- product cost: 8 €;
- shipping per dispatched order: 7 €;
- ad cost per generated order: 9 €;
- out of 100 generated orders, 80 confirm and 60 are delivered and paid.
Revenue: 60 × 39 = 2,340 €. Ads: 100 × 9 = 900 €. Product: 60 × 8 = 480 €. Shipping: 80 × 7 = 560 €. Profit: 400 €, or 4 € per generated order. Now drop deliveries from 60 to 52: revenue falls to 2,028 €, product cost to 416 €, and profit collapses to 152 €. Eight more refused parcels remove almost two thirds of the profit. If your product only works in the optimistic scenario, it does not work.
4. Expected refusal: which number should you use?
There is no public European average for COD refusal. There are point data, such as the Romanian figure discussed in our post on COD refusal rate, and your own measurements. Use three scenarios (optimistic, base and bad) and decide on the bad one. Category changes the scenario: fashion has size exchanges, health products have buyer's remorse when the promise was big.
5. Trend: is interest growing or fading?
Google Trends shows direction and seasonality, never volume. Search the term in the local language, filter by country, look at five years and compare with a neighbouring term. An isolated spike is usually a passing viral moment. A curve that rises in the same month every year signals seasonality: plan stock for it, as with Black Friday 2026 in Europe and the Gulf.
6. A real test at small volume
The test that counts uses real orders and real deliveries. Two low-risk routes:
- As an affiliate, running offers that already have stock and compliance in Europe from the product catalogue. You test country, creative and CPA without buying a batch.
- With a small pilot batch in our warehouses in Europe, in a single country, with stop criteria set in advance: maximum CPA, minimum confirmation rate and minimum delivery rate.
Taking orders for a product you do not yet have in stock, "to see if it sells", creates delays, cancellations and complaints, and with COD it turns into refusals. Avoid it. If you want to start without your own batch, our post on selling in Europe without inventory and the one on COD dropshipping in Europe compare the routes.
What are the most common product selection mistakes?
The most expensive mistake is choosing what went viral and discovering the European rules after the batch has arrived. The ones we see most often in new sellers:
- A viral product from China without CE. Electronics, toys and battery-powered accessories need CE marking and technical documentation behind it. Toys and electrical appliances were, respectively, 16% and 11% of Safety Gate alerts in 2025. A printed CE logo with no testing behind it protects nobody. The Your Europe portal explains what the marking means.
- Health promises. Supplements and cosmetics do not treat diseases. "Stops hair loss", "lose 10 kg" and "ends joint pain" are prohibited under the Food Supplements Directive 2002/46/EC and the claims rules, and ad platforms reject them before the law even gets involved.
- Reading the ranking as revenue. 70% of shoppers buying clothes does not mean fashion is the best business for you. It means competition there is the fiercest.
- Fashion without a size chart. EU consumers have 14 days to withdraw from a distance purchase under the Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU. In clothing, a wrong size becomes a return or a refusal. Footwear also needs a materials label under Directive 94/11/EC.
- Copying a formula from home. An ingredient approved in your country may be banned in the EU, and maximum vitamin and mineral doses vary by country.
- Third-party brands without authorisation. Reselling a known brand without proof of authorised supply risks seizure and blocked ad accounts.
- Ignoring the channel. On TikTok Shop, the list of countries and seller requirements are different; see our post on TikTok Shop in Europe.
What this means if you sell with cash on delivery and local stock
The official ranking tells you where demand is; operations decide whether you can serve it at a profit. With stock in our warehouses in Europe, orders ship from within the continent, delivery is faster and the parcel is not caught by the charges on low-value shipments from outside the EU. That does not turn a bad product into a good one, but it removes two classic causes of COD refusal: slow delivery and surprise charges at the door.
In practice, N1 runs cash on delivery in 16 markets, 12 in Europe and 4 in the Gulf, with payouts on D+2. For products that need registration, such as supplements and cosmetics, N1 offers an EU responsible person for registration and notification when needed, through its Consulting and Production services. That is not the same as being the GPSR economic operator: that role stays with the seller or whoever the seller appoints for it.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best-selling products in Europe?
According to Eurostat, the category most people buy online in the EU is clothes, shoes and accessories: 70% of online shoppers in 2024. Then come restaurant deliveries (33%), cosmetics (31%), home and garden (30%), sports goods (26%) and medicine and supplements (24%). There is no official ranking of individual products.
What are the winning products in Europe for 2026?
The latest official data on physical goods is from 2024, because Eurostat's 2025 module covered services. National 2026 reports, such as the Polish Gemius study, keep fashion and cosmetics at the top. A "2026 winning products" list without a source is an opinion.
What sells online in Europe for non-EU sellers?
The same categories that sell for local sellers, with two filters: the product must be compliant with EU rules from day one, and it must hold up against Asian marketplace prices. Medium-ticket, light products with low exchange risk fit cross-border COD best. Run the unit economics with a bad refusal scenario before buying stock.
What should I sell in Europe with cash on delivery?
Medium-ticket, light products with low exchange risk and compliance sorted before the batch. Notified cosmetics, supplements with honest copy and compact accessories usually fit better than heavy furniture or 10 € items. Test the margin with a pessimistic refusal rate.
Do I need registration to sell cosmetics or supplements in Europe?
Yes. Cosmetics need an EU responsible person, a safety report and CPNP notification before sale. Supplements need national notification in each country and a label in the local language. Validate with a regulatory specialist before production.
Can I sell products from China in Europe?
Yes, as long as they meet the same rules as a European product: CE marking where required, technical documentation, an EU economic operator under the GPSR and correct labelling. The problem is not the origin, it is undocumented products. Safety Gate recorded 4,671 dangerous-product alerts in 2025.
Next step
If you want to test without buying a batch, browse the offers with stock in Europe in the product catalogue. If you already have a product and want to move it into our warehouses in Europe, talk to a specialist and request a proposal. Product compliance remains the responsibility of whoever places it on the market.
Sources
- Internet purchases by type of goods, isoc_ec_ibgs, Eurostat, 2024 data, accessed 2026-10-08.
- Internet purchases by individuals, isoc_ec_ib20, Eurostat, 2025 data, accessed 2026-10-08.
- E-commerce statistics for individuals, Eurostat Statistics Explained, accessed 2026-10-08.
- European E-commerce Report 2025, light version, Ecommerce Europe and EuroCommerce, p. 15 and p. 80, accessed 2026-10-08.
- E-commerce w Polsce 2026, Gemius, PBI, IAB Polska and ALK, accessed 2026-10-08.
- Safety Gate 2025, European Commission, accessed 2026-10-08.
- Regulation (EC) 1223/2009 on cosmetic products, EUR-Lex, accessed 2026-10-08.
- Directive 2002/46/EC on food supplements, EUR-Lex, accessed 2026-10-08.
- Directive 2011/83/EU on consumer rights, EUR-Lex, accessed 2026-10-08.
- Directive 94/11/EC on footwear labelling, EUR-Lex, accessed 2026-10-08.
- Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 on deforestation-free products, EUR-Lex, and the European Commission page on the regulation, accessed 2026-10-08.
- CE marking, Your Europe, accessed 2026-10-08.
- Beauty and personal care sector breaks export record, ABIHPEC (in Portuguese), January 19, 2026, accessed 2026-10-08.
- Brazil exports 38.5 million bags of coffee in the 2025/26 crop year, Cecafé (in Portuguese), accessed 2026-10-08.
- Q4 2025 earnings release, Alpargatas (in Portuguese), March 2026, accessed 2026-10-08.
- Frequently asked questions regarding novel foods, Finnish Food Authority, and Novel Food status Catalogue, European Commission, accessed 2026-10-08.