{"id":2784,"date":"2026-10-22T18:42:39","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T15:42:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fluidcrm.io\/blog\/?p=2784"},"modified":"2026-10-22T19:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T16:44:12","slug":"crm-statistics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fluidcrm.io\/blog\/crm-statistics\/","title":{"rendered":"CRM Statistics 2026: Fewer Than 3 in 10 Firms Use One"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Most CRM statistics online have no study behind them. Eurostat’s survey of EU firms with 10+ staff does, and it says 28.51% of them use CRM software. Fluid CRM<\/a> traced every number on this page back to the government agency, journal or company that published it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

28.51% of EU firms with 10+ staff used CRM software in 2025 (Eurostat), against 28.6% across OECD countries and 17.4% of Canadian private-sector firms in 2023. In the EU, firms with 250+ staff use it more than 2.6 times as often as firms with 10 to 49. Fluid CRM linked each figure below to its source.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Statistic<\/th>Figure<\/th>Source<\/th>Data year<\/th>Who was measured<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Firms using CRM software, EU<\/td>28.51%<\/td>Eurostat<\/a><\/td>2025<\/td>EU firms with 10+ staff<\/td><\/tr>
Small vs large firms using CRM, EU<\/td>24.69% vs 65.43%<\/td>Eurostat<\/a><\/td>2025<\/td>10 to 49 staff vs 250+ staff<\/td><\/tr>
Firms using CRM software, OECD<\/td>28.6%<\/td>OECD<\/a><\/td>2025<\/td>Firms with 10+ staff<\/td><\/tr>
Firms using CRM software, Canada<\/td>17.4%<\/td>Statistics Canada<\/a><\/td>2023<\/td>Private-sector firms, all sizes<\/td><\/tr>
Highest and lowest EU country<\/td>Finland 55.79%, Bulgaria 11.92%<\/td>Eurostat<\/a><\/td>2025<\/td>EU firms with 10+ staff<\/td><\/tr>
Highest and lowest industry, EU<\/td>Information and communication 63.14%, construction 16.43%<\/td>Eurostat<\/a><\/td>2025<\/td>EU firms with 10+ staff<\/td><\/tr>
CRM sales software market<\/td>$28.7B, growing 12.8% a year to 2029<\/td>Gartner<\/a><\/td>2025<\/td>Worldwide forecast<\/td><\/tr>
Largest CRM vendor by share<\/td>Salesforce, 20.7%<\/td>IDC, via Salesforce<\/a><\/td>2024<\/td>Worldwide CRM revenue<\/td><\/tr>
Organizations losing revenue to poor CRM data<\/td>62%<\/td>Validity<\/a><\/td>2026<\/td>500 marketers in 5 countries<\/td><\/tr>
Time reps spend on non-selling work<\/td>More than half<\/td>Salesforce State of Sales<\/a><\/td>2025 survey<\/td>4,050 sales professionals<\/td><\/tr>
US businesses using AI in any function<\/td>23.8%<\/td>US Census Bureau<\/a><\/td>2026<\/td>Business Trends and Outlook Survey<\/td><\/tr>
Stock or profit gains after investing in CRM<\/td>No evidence found<\/td>Hendricks, Singhal and Stratman<\/a><\/td>2007<\/td>80 firms that announced CRM investments<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Each source name links to the page, data file or journal article that published the figure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>CRM Adoption Statistics by Company Size<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Headcount predicts CRM use better than anything else on this page. In the EU, 24.69% of firms with 10 to 49 staff used CRM software in 2025, against 43.77% of firms with 50 to 249 and 65.43% of firms with 250+ (Eurostat<\/a>). All three bands rose since 2023, when they stood at 22.26%, 39.58% and 60.60%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The OECD and Statistics Canada show the same slope. Canada is the only one of the three that also counts the very smallest firms, and there only 8.0% of businesses with 0 to 4 staff use a CRM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Company size<\/th>EU (2025)<\/th>OECD (2025)<\/th>Canada (2023)<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Micro (0 to 4 staff)<\/td>Not measured<\/td>Not measured<\/td>8.0%<\/td><\/tr>
Small<\/td>24.69% (10 to 49)<\/td>24.9% (10 to 49)<\/td>14.3% (5 to 19)<\/td><\/tr>
Medium<\/td>43.77% (50 to 249)<\/td>42.7% (50 to 249)<\/td>26.8% (20 to 99)<\/td><\/tr>
Large<\/td>65.43% (250+)<\/td>62.7% (250+)<\/td>48.5% (100+)<\/td><\/tr>
All firms in scope<\/td>28.51% (10+)<\/td>28.6% (10+)<\/td>17.4% (all sizes)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Canada’s bands are cut at different headcounts, so compare its slope with the others rather than its exact rows. Canada also moved slowly, from 16.4% in 2019 to 17.2% in 2021 and 17.4% in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So three out of four small European firms still track customers somewhere other than a CRM. That is the group we built Fluid CRM for, and our simple CRM<\/a> page shows what the switch from a spreadsheet looks like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>CRM Usage by Country and Industry<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The spread between EU countries is wide. Finland leads at 55.79% of firms with 10+ staff, then the Netherlands at 54.12%, Denmark at 42.51% and Belgium at 41.42%. The lowest are Bulgaria at 11.92%, Romania at 13.93% and Latvia at 17.33% (Eurostat<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The big economies land near the middle, with Germany at 29.64%, France at 30.67%, Sweden at 33.89% and Ireland at 27.71%. The gap holds among small firms too. 51.76% of small Finnish firms use a CRM, against 25.95% in Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m writing this from Helsinki, so Finland at the top doesn’t surprise me. What does is the other side of it. Even in the EU’s leading country, more than 4 in 10 Finnish firms with 10+ staff still don’t use a CRM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside the EU, the OECD’s latest figures are older and less even. Australia measured 32.7% in 2022, the UK 30.5% in 2019, Korea 22.1% in 2024 and New Zealand 16.9% in 2022 (OECD<\/a>). The OECD data doesn’t cover the United States, and US Census business surveys don’t ask about CRM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By industry, information and communication firms lead at 63.14%. Transportation and storage is at 18.55% and construction at 16.43%. Construction was one of the industries I booked sales calls for at Fenixtal, my old outbound agency, and that low number matches what I saw there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two traps catch people citing these figures. Eurostat changed its CRM question in 2023, so the old series (34.79% in 2021) cannot be compared with the new one (25.83% in 2023). The 73% figure often quoted for Denmark and Finland is the share of firms using ERP, CRM or business intelligence software combined, not CRM alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>CRM Market Size and Vendor Statistics<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Market size depends on what gets counted, and every report draws the line in a different place. Gartner sizes the CRM sales software segment at $28.7B in 2025, growing 12.8% a year to 2029 (Gartner<\/a>). That segment covers sales software only, and customer service and marketing tools are not included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salesforce held the largest share of the CRM market in 2024 at 20.7%. That figure comes from IDC’s tracker as restated in Salesforce’s own announcement<\/a>, so treat it as IDC’s number published by Salesforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Company filings are audited figures. Salesforce reported $41.5B in revenue for fiscal 2026, up 10% (SEC filing<\/a>). HubSpot had 306,446 customers at the end of June 2026, up 14% (Q2 2026 results<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zoho says Zoho CRM is used by 250,000+ businesses in 180 countries. That is Zoho’s own claim<\/a> with no filing behind it, since Zoho is privately held.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>What Peer-Reviewed Research Says About CRM Results<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Most CRM roundups list benefit percentages with no study behind them. The peer-reviewed research is more careful, and its findings are mixed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n