During the third quarter of 2026, a total of 67.5 million e-commerce packages were shipped to Swedish consumers. This represents an increase of approximately 8 percent, or 4.9 million more packages, compared to the same period last year. The figures were presented on Friday morning in Transportföretagens Paketindex (Transport Companies' Package Index), which is developed in collaboration with HUI Research.
The most prominent change in the statistics concerns the flow of packages from foreign e-commerce companies. After a prolonged period of continuous growth, the number of packages from abroad decreased by just over 5 percent during the quarter, reaching 19.5 million shipments. The share of foreign packages in the total package volume thus fell from 33 to 29 percent, which is the lowest level so far this year.
Stricter Customs Regulations Dampen Imports
The decline in foreign volumes coincides with the new customs regulations introduced by the EU on July 1st of this year, which impose a flat fee of 3 euros per product category for shipments under 150 euros from countries outside the union. In addition, the Swedish Customs Authority requires physical scanning of each individual shipment, which has led several non-European players to redirect their logistics to neighboring countries.
We are now seeing a clear trend break after a long period of sharply increasing package volumes from abroad, and it is interesting that this coincides with the EU's new customs regulations for low-price shipments. The Customs Authority also interprets EU rules more strictly than in our neighboring countries. This is causing many non-European companies to redirect their goods to neighboring countries, which has led to lost business for Swedish logistics companies and missed job opportunities. But the statistics suggest that the packages are not only taking other routes to Sweden but that imports are actually decreasing.
Says Tina Thorsell, Public Policy Manager at Transportföretagen, in a comment on the report.
The slowdown in actual low-price imports is also confirmed by other industry measurements. Ehandel.se recently reported that Swedish Trade's E-commerce Indicator showed that the proportion of consumers who have shopped online from abroad fell to 17 percent in September, which was explained by a sharp drop for Asian marketplaces such as Temu and Shein after the mid-year point. At the same time, cost pressure on direct imports has increased further since the EU activated a new handling fee of 2 euros per package on Sunday, November 1st, on top of the summer's customs flat rate.
Second Hand and Swedish Exports are Growing
While imports from abroad are declining, domestic and circular commerce continue to drive package volumes. During the third quarter, 9.2 million second-hand packages were shipped in Sweden, an increase of 41 percent compared to the corresponding quarter last year. Looking at the first nine months of the year, used volumes have increased by 34 percent.
Second hand has become an increasingly important part of e-commerce and we see no signs that interest is waning. On the contrary, the growth rate is increasing for the second quarter in a row. This shows how digital marketplaces are changing our consumption patterns and creating new transport needs as more and more goods get new owners.
The development where consumers are shifting from non-European low-price imports to second-hand trade is also visible in the rest of the Nordic region. Ehandel.se has previously highlighted the Danish market, where Temu fell from the top three to tenth place among the most popular online stores after the summer's customs tightening , while second-hand platform Vinted strengthened its position in second place.
Swedish e-retailers' sales to abroad also show stable growth. During the third quarter, 12.3 million packages were exported from Sweden to foreign consumers, which corresponds to an increase of 15 percent compared to the third quarter of 2025.
Parcel Lockers are Gaining Market Share
The statistics for the third quarter also show how consumers' choice of delivery method continues to evolve. Delivery to collection points is still the most common option and accounted for 41 percent of the total volumes, followed by home deliveries which made up 33 percent.
However, parcel lockers are the fastest-growing delivery method. The proportion of packages delivered to parcel lockers increased to 26 percent during the third quarter, up from 23 percent in June. At the same time, the average return rate in e-commerce was close to 7 percent during the period, with the actual number of return packages increasing by just over 9 percent in line with rising total volumes.