E-commerce in Greece

E-commerce

Internet access

Greece has a population of around 11 million, of which 64.8% have access to the internet (increase from 55% in 2012). Smartphone penetration is estimated to be at 59.5% (InternetLiveStats). According to data from Statista, 93% of internet users in the age group of 25-34 access the internet every day. The percentage goes to 89% for the age groups 16-24 and 35-44, 77% for the group 45-54 and 68% for people older than 55. The most popular web search engines in Greece are Google (97.5%), Bing (1.5%) and Yahoo (0.9%).

E-commerce market

According to a study by the Greek E-Commerce Association (GR.EC.A.), online retail turnover amounted to EUR 4 billion in 2017, almost 2% of the country’s GDP. There are more than 6,500 e-shops in Greece. Popular e-shops include Amazon, eBay, Amazon third parties, e-shop, Plaisio, Public, and Skroutz. More specifically, Amazon and its third party merchants continued to lead internet retailing in Greece, recording a combined value share of 12%, followed by eBay at 8%. Cross-border commerce in Greece accounts for 30% of total online purchases and estimates show that 54% of buyers prefer e-shops based in the UK, followed by China (47%), the U.S. (34%), and Germany (21%) (US Department of Commerce).

E-commerce sales and customers

The e-commerce sector in Greece is constantly growing: it is estimated that there are more than 3 million online shoppers (out of over 7 million internet users), spending an average of about 1,300 euros each year. The growth of e-commerce can be mainly attributed to income reduction that made Greek consumers more price sensitive: in the last few years, Greeks have become highly price-driven, realising that online retailing could offer better prices and discounts compared to traditional brick and mortar stores. Furthermore, many new local e-shops in all categories of products and services have opened and consumers can often find a wider variety of products online. When asked what they usually buy online, Greek e-shoppers listed travel (84%), followed by hotel reservations (70%), electronic equipment and peripherals (69%), entertainment tickets (69%) and apparel and footwear (62%). Cash on delivery remains the most popular method of payment, however more and more Greeks use electronic payment (like credit and debit cards, PayPal and Bank transfers). In 2016, 51% of consumers used credit cards for their online purchases, up from 44% in 2015. C.O.D. payments are linked with with consumers’ fear of security and privacy violation (online fraud) as well as concerns about the product they will eventually receive.

Social media

In 2017 Greece had 5.3 million active social media users (+10% from the previous year), slightly below half of the entire population. Of these, 4.4 million access social media through smartphones (+16% since 2016). According to a survey by the Reuters Institute, Greeks have the lowest levels of trust in news and express concerns about business and political influence over editorial content, which is the main reason why they often recur to social media to obtain information. Facebook is the main social network with around 5 million active users (of which the majority - 53% - are male). According to an annual research study on social media and digital marketing conducted by the Economic University of Athens (ELTRUN), 19% of the population interact with businesses’ pages on Facebook. Another very popular social media platform is YouTube, while the popularity of Twitter is also increasing. The most used messaging platform is Messenger, followed by WhatsApp.