Joint study finds online stores growing on Greeks

The average per capita spending for online shopping by Greeks will grow by 60.5 euros or 3.44 percent this year, according to an annual report on online commerce in Europe.

The joint study by Ecommerce Europe, which represents online retailers, and EuroCommerce, the European confederation of commerce, showed that the average Greek will spend 1,818 euros online this year, up from the previous record of 1,758.3 euros, in 2017.

Online consumer spending has soared in recent years. Ecommerce Europe data show that the average spending per Greek came to 1,556.7 euros in 2015, rising 8.5 percent to 1,689.4 euros in 2016, and 4.07 percent in 2017. Obviously, the imposition of capital controls three years ago has played a key role in this growth.

The same report also found that Greece had one of the highest rates of consumers who make online purchases in Europe last year, coming to 50 percent.

A notable 15 percent of Greek shoppers say they exclusively buy from foreign online stores, which is the option typically used for the acquisition of technological commodities. However, the rapid online expansion of Greek companies is likely to reduce that rate.