Commercial transactions in the digital environment in Latvia

Commercial transactions in the digital environment represent the core of the digital economy. Progress in information technology opens up opportunities for commercial transactions in the digital environment, thereby raising operational productivity and the flow of goods and services to a new level. The digital transformation of commercial transactions occurred very fast owing to the CODID-19 pandemic, thereby contributing to a significant increase in the number of commercial transactions both globally and nationally that have become available to more than half of the world’s population. Making digital commercial transactions is affected by a number of factors: information technology infrastructure, Internet speed, and digital security, consumer skills, consumer protection and delivery logistics. The research analysed data on the population using the Internet in Latvia, the EU and the world. The research identified correlations between: the number of digital commercial transactions and the population, mobile Internet speed and the number of individuals who shopped online, the categories of goods purchased online and gender, the amounts of money spent on online purchases and the employment category. In 2020, according to Eurostat, 56% of the population of Latvia made digital commercial transactions. The figure for Latvia was 8% lower than the European Union average. A comparison of the numbers of digital commercial transactions between Latvia and the other Baltic States revealed that the figures for Latvia were mediocre. The number of transactions was higher in Latvia than in Lithuania by 2%, while Estonia experienced the largest increase in the number of digital transactions, which was 12% higher than in Latvia. The comparison indicates that it is possible to increase the number of digital commercial transactions in Latvia. digital, commercial transactions, indicators.