E-shopping keeps expanding
Seven out of 10 internet users in Greece made purchases from online stores or applications in 2022, which confirms that e-commerce has entered our lives for good with the relative percentages increasing too, although physical stores are operating without restrictive measures after the pandemic.
Consumers in Greece are now widely using e-stores both to buy goods such as clothes, and services, from food orders to renting accommodation, but also to call a taxi. This is related to saving time, but also to the increasing familiarity now with both cellphone applications and online payments.
The easier comparison of prices and products, especially in a period of inflationary pressures, as well as having reviews from other user-buyers to accompany products and services, are also instrumental in keeping e-commerce on an upward course.
Therefore, according to data Eurostat announced on Tuesday, 69.84% of web users in Greece made purchases from the internet in 2022, compared to 68.52% in 2021 and 58.93% in 2020. It is worth noting that by 2019 the corresponding percentages were below 50%, while 10 years earlier, in 2012, the percentage of internet users who made purchases from e-commerce was only 36.13%. A significant increase was recorded for the first time in 2015 (46.62%), a development related to the imposition of capital controls, while subsequently there was a relative de-escalation of e-commerce purchases. From 2018, an increase was recorded again to have the explosion due to the pandemic in 2020, which for many months made online stores the only option for shopping.
Clothing and footwear dominate online shopping, with 32.49% of orders, while one in five users orders food through online stores and apps. Sports equipment (15.24%) is high on buyers’ preferences, as is the purchase of cosmetics and beauty and wellness products (14.29%). The purchase of transport services (e.g. taxis) via the internet also commands a significant 12.79%.
Also in 2022, 12.56% of internet users in Greece purchased an item from a private individual through such a platform, while 15.53% used these platforms for goods and services.
