Zagreb | June 2023 | For the seventh year in a row, Geopost conducted the E-shopper barometer survey based on 36,000 interviews conducted online in 22 European and 9 non-EU countries. This year’s research brings important information about the development of e-commerce and conclusions about the latest online shopping trends for 2022.
The world market has been constantly changing for the past few years, and as a result, consumer habits have also changed. Today’s e-shoppers expect a pleasant shopping experience, fast and reliable delivery, the ability to track parcels in real time and the freedom to decide when and where the parcels will be delivered. Certainly, one of the most important criteria is free delivery, followed by free returns and purchases without hidden fees.
Habits of Croatian e-customers
The number of Croatian e-shoppers has increased compared to the period before pandemic, so 75% of the Croatian population buys online, which means that Croats have reached the European average.
Nevertheless, Croatian regular e-customers buy less impulsively than European customers. Therefore, the percentage of regular Croatian e-shoppers, those who buy at least one product category online every month, is somewhat lower than the European average (40%). Regular online customers include people of all ages, from 18 to 70 years old, who order an average of 4.3 parcels per month, but one typical profile of a Croatian online customer stands out: 42-year-old woman, married, with higher paying capacity, who lives in an urban area. According to research, out of the total number of online customers, even 59% of regular e-customers are women.
Footwear and products from the beauty and care category are still in the TOP 3 products that are bought online, both in Croatia and in Europe. Croats mostly ordered products from the fashion category (53%), followed by footwear (49%), and in third place products from the beauty and care category (47%). The practicality of online shopping remains one of the main drivers of purchases, especially since 77% of respondents believe that e-shopping is an excellent way to save time, while 58% of them believe that such a way of shopping significantly reduces the stress that traditional stores can produce.
Considering the war in Ukraine and its economic consequences, European e-shoppers continue to pay attention to prices, while Croatian online shoppers are more active in looking for big discounts, much more so than the rest of Europe. As many as 70% of regular online shoppers look forward to big discounts such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and seasonal sales, while 62% believe online shopping saves money.
One of the main trends observed in 2022 is the popularity of online sales between individuals.
2/3 of regular e-buyers are users of the CtoC platform, present as buyers, sellers, or both. Earning extra money or buying products at a lower price is by far their main motivation for shopping on these websites. In addition, the research showed that Croats massively use social networks for the purpose of shopping. Social networks are used in 9 out of 10 purchases, for reasons such as searching for information, inspiration and, in most cases, for direct purchase.
It is interesting that 88% of regular Croatian e-customers still prefer delivery to their home address (which is drop of -2% compared to the year before), while there is an increase in preferences when choosing alternative delivery locations such as Pickup locations for collecting parcels, parcel lockers and delivery to a safe place (garage, tool room, etc.). Regarding delivery services, 8 out of 10 regular e-shoppers expect to be informed of the exact delivery time of 1 hour and want to be able to choose specific day / time of delivery. According to research, as many as 77% of regular e-customers are more likely to make a purchase via e-commerce if they know that they will be delivered by a delivery service that has a time frame of one hour.
You can read more about the segmentation of e-customers and their habits at https://www.dpd.com/hr/en/trends-and-habits-of-e-shoppers-in-2022/ and at the link https://shorturl.at/htF02 you can find an online e-shopper comparison tool where you can easily filter the markets and various categories covered by the research.
