Europe E-Signature Market Insights by Component (Software, Hardware, Service), Deployment Type (Cloud, On-Premises), Type (PKI, PIN, Signature Pad at POS, Clickwrap, Voices signature), Use Case (Unmediated, Mediated, Third Party, Internal), Vertical (BFSI, Government, IT & Telecom, Healthcare, Legal) –Revenue Estimation and Demand Forecast to 2030

Market Overview

The European e-signature market generated $711.8 million revenue in 2021, and it is predicted to reach $10,504.7 million by 2030, advancing at a CAGR of 34.9% during 2021–2030. This is primarily due to the rise in prevalence of remote working, favorable government laws and regulations, increase in the volume of online documentation processes, and cost-effectiveness of e-signatures.

Moreover, businesses in Europe are widely adopting the remote working and hybrid work models, thus driving the market in the region. As per the statistics, more than 60% of European business leaders believe that companies working on the hybrid model are more profitable.

BFSI Vertical Generates Highest Revenue in the Market

In 2021, the BFSI category accounted for the largest revenue share, of around 40%, in the market. Due to the high demand for customer-centric business applications, the BFSI vertical focuses on understanding digital preferences, consumer behavior, and choices. Digital signatures protect identities, provide strong security, and manage regulatory compliances. Moreover, these signatures assist BFSI firms in simplifying complex business processes by providing enhanced security and faster customer onboarding. Thus, these factors are driving the market growth in this category.

Moreover, the government sector is the second-largest category in the market. This is because government institutions have been digitally transforming their work processes by using e-signature software and applications. For internal applications, for instance, HR departments of institutions are adopting the digital onboarding process for new hires. Similar is the case for government-to-citizen transactions, such as e-permitting, and government-to-business transactions, such as eContracting.

Major Opportunity Areas

The growth in the e-commerce industry has triggered the growth of several related sectors. The application used in the e-business industry provides efficiency, strong partner/customer relationships, and deep integration of supply chains. Thus, the growing e-commerce sector is expected to provide growth opportunities to players in the European e-signature market. As more businesses move online, more legally binding documents would be required for governing and accommodating this transition. Additionally, this would lead to a significant requirement for solutions that offer security to sensitive documents online.

Moreover, the rising internet penetration, along with the surging number of connected devices, would further drive e-businesses’ prosperity in Europe. As a result of the growing e-commerce market, the demand for secure transactions is increasing, which would drive the demand for e-signature solutions in the coming years.

E-Signature Service Market To Witness Fastest Growth

The European e-signature service market is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period, advancing at a CAGR of around 40%. This can be ascribed to its benefits availed by businesses operating in the region such as it reduces the time of procedures to a few hours from several days. Moreover, it reduces the cost and improves the efficiency level of work. For instance, in Spain, each transaction requiring physical presence costs around $84, but the identical transaction done electronically costs between $5 and $9.

Explore more about this report - Request free sample pages

Rising Online Documentation Processes Driving the Market

With the widespread digital transformation across the region, documentation processes in organizations and institutions are also being digitized at a high rate. Furthermore, the surging penetration of cloud computing has allowed companies and consumers to make deals online, which needs authentication and authorization from both parties. This has been boosting the market across the world.

Moreover, e-signature technologies assist in reducing the enormous amount of time involved in filling banking, insurance, corporate communications, marketing, and legal and advisory forms. A one-time digitized scanned signature can be used several times for banking and insurance procedures. With the increasing rate of digitalization, the demand for e-signature solutions is increasing for filing income tax returns, opening savings and credit accounts, and buying insurance policies online.

PKI Category Dominates the Market

In 2021, the PKI category accounted for the largest share, over 40%, in the European e-signature market. This is because it is a standard-based technology that allows developers to choose trust providers according to their preference and no third-party authentication server is needed to be online. Whereas, the demand for clickwrap electronic signature is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period, as it offers centralized contract storage for back-end records.

U.K. Captured Majority Share of the Market

The U.K. led the European market, with a revenue share of around 20%, in 2021. This is mainly due to the surging use of e-signature in the country for online identification, which is becoming increasingly important as services move online. GOV.U.K. Verify is a government platform that proves the authenticity of an individual via documents issued by the government. The government-issued documents can be a passport or a photocard driving license. Through this, one can avail safer, simpler, and faster access to government services like filing taxes or checking the information of a driving license.

Germany is the second-largest market in Europe. This is primarily because the country has officially and legally accepted e-signatures under the German Signature Law since 2001. As an economic giant, Germany was amongst the first countries to legalize the use of e-signatures for a wide range of applications. Thus, the nation is one of the leaders in the digitization of processes and the establishment of a paperless economy. Moreover, most declarations and contracts of intent are made or concluded without witnessing any particular formal requirements in the country. The use of e-signatures is in line with the trend toward simplifying processes through digitalization.

Market Player Involved in Product Launches to Gain Competitive Edge

Players operating in the European e-signature market have been involved in launching new products in order to attain a significant position. For instance:

• In May 2022, Foxit Corporation, a major provider of innovative PDF products and services, launched Foxit eSign platform, which is a new e-signature service that offers full, legally binding, and secure e-sign workflow.
• In September 2021, PandaDoc Inc. launched PandaDoc for Developers, which allows developers to effortlessly construct and integrate customizable document workflows and eSignature capabilities into their products, services, and websites.

Key Players in Market Are:

• DocuSign Inc.
• Thales Group
• Adobe Inc.
• Entrust Corporation
• Formstack LLC
• airSlate Inc.
• Foxit Corporation
• Citrix Systems Inc.
• PandaDoc Inc.
• OneSpan Inc.
• Dropbox Inc.

Market Size Breakdown by Segment

The report offers comprehensive market segmentation analysis along with the revenue estimation for the period 2017–2030.

Based on Component

• Software
• Hardware
• Service
  • Managed
  • Professional

Based on Deployment Type

• Cloud
• On-Premises

Based on Type

• Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)
• Username and Personal Identification Number (PIN)
• Signature Pad at Point of Sale (POS)
• Clickwrap
• Voices signature

Based on Use Case

• Unmediated
• Mediated
• Third Party
• Internal

Based on Vertical

• Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI)
• Government
• Information Technology (IT) & Telecom
• Healthcare
• Legal

Regional Analysis

• U.K.
• Germany
• France
• Italy
• Spain
• Poland
• Netherlands
• Sweden
• Denmark
• Belgium
• Romania
• Norway