Greece is a country in Southeast Europe. It borders four countries Albania, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Turkey. Greece has a great history and is the cradle of culture, making it a popular tourist destination.
Its GDP in 2019 stood at the level of US$209.85 billion. Unfortunately, it has the lowest index of Economy Freedom from the whole European Union. Its economy is not at its best, but Greeks are trying to go straight.
Despite the fact of a weak economy, ecommerce may be in a different position. We will analyze this part of the Greece market. Lets’ begin with an ecommerce overview.
Greek ecommerce overview
Revenue in the Greek ecommerce market is projected to reach US$2,802m by the end of this year. There are more than 5 million users, so user penetration in this market hit 50% in 2020 and is forecasted to reach 59.3% in 2025.
Fashion is the largest sector in Greece and stands for 34% of the ecommerce revenue in Greece. The second one is Electronics & Media with 25% and then comes to the Food & Personal Care segment with 17%. Toys, Hobby & DIY sector is fourth and stands for 16%. The last one is the Furniture & Appliances segment, with 9% of ecommerce revenue.
source: https://ecommercedb.com/en/markets/gr/all
The biggest net sales in 2019 had an e-shop.gr – US$10m, the second place belongs to plaisio.gr, a Greek ecomerce marketplace with US$79. The third-place belongs to Zara. All the above sites provide the Greek language version of the website.
Consumer behavior in Greece
The economic recession forced Greek consumers to change their shopping habits. They are very price-conscious – prices are the main determinant of purchasing. More and more Greeks are transferring their purchases to the web – it gives the opportunity to compare the offer and prices in a quick way. Online shopping is simply considered more convenient.
Greeks highly appreciate local products. Local soft drinks and juices are products that are very popular in Greece. There is also a decline in the popularity of alcoholic beverages’ import. They prefer their own. Contrary to the global trend, Greeks decide to repair instead of buying new things, so it also affects sales.
As the economic situation is slowly recovering, Greek consumers are regaining confidence in it.
Payment methods in Greece
The most popular payment method is bank transfer – over 80% of ecommerce offer this method. 70% of providers offer payment on account, and 43% provide payment in advance. About half of ecommerce retailers allow cash payment on collection. Only 6% provide digital wallets, and 4% of retailers offer mobile payments.
How does this situation look from the consumer’s site? More than 10% of the market share belongs to credit cards. Prepaid ways cover over half of the market, and what is also quite surprising – 25% of the ecommerce payment market belongs to mobiles. Only 6% of payments are made by bank transfers and 1% by digital wallets. As you can see, there are some discrepancies between providers’ offer and consumers’ needs.
source: https://www.paymentwall.com/pl/payment-methods/greece
How does this situation look from the consumer’s site? More than 10% of the market share belongs to credit cards. Prepaid ways cover over half of the market, and what is also quite surprising – 25% of the ecommerce payment market belongs to mobiles. Only 6% of payments are made by bank transfers and 1% by digital wallets. As you can see, there are some discrepancies between providers’ offer and consumers’ needs.
Greek social media
There are over 8 million internet users in Greece. From which 96% use social media via mobiles. In 2020, compared to 2019, there is a 5% increase in social media users’ number. So it is definitely worth to be there.
source: https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2020-greece
When it comes to social media – Facebook runs this world. Thanks to this platform, you can reach over 5 million users via ads. 97.5% use mobile to scroll down Facebook, so be ready for mobile-friendly content, and only 4% use Facebook via desktop.
Thanks to Instagram ads, you can reach around 3 million people. In this case, the lowest score has Snapchat – you can get 615 thousand users via advertisements on this app.
source: https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2020-greece
Logistics in Greece
Nearly 80% of the Greece area is mountainous. That is why logistics in this country meet some challenges. There are also lots of islands in this country, so sea transport is crucial here.
source: https://www.logisticsgreece.com/
The main points in the Greece logistic map are Thessaloniki, Igoumenitsa, Patra, Athens, Piraeus, and Crete. These areas operate companies that provide services such as logistics & supply chains, logistics management, 3rd party logistics services, freight forwarding, packaging, warehousing, storage and distribution, corporate logistics, and pallet trucks.
To sum up
Greece’s consumers see ecommerce potentials. So if you have ever been interested in entering this market, feel free to use this knowledge from the article above.
There are also more articles about other European countries such as Spain, Hungary, or Scandinavian Norway.
