More than HUF 130 billion could be spent online in Hungary this year as webshops are increasingly used and trusted. It seems that even the crisis has played into online retailers’ hands: savvy shoppers often end up online when seeking discounts. Growth is fast, but the share of online retail remains low.
Webshops still account for only a small part of overall retail sales. Electronic retail sales in Hungary are expected to continue growing in 2010, totaling approximately HUF 130-135 billion, compared to HUF 99 billion last year and HUF 61 billion in 2008, a recently published GKleNET survey reveals. Online sales currently account for more than 1.6% of all retail sales in Hungary, and are rising exponentially. As a result of the economic recession, more consumers have become price-sensitive, and shoppers tend to surf the web for the best deals. The growth will likely be split between old and new market players.
Data from 2009 indicates that stores with more than 1,000 visitors per day account for 90% of all online sales. Companies with annual sales exceeding HUF 100 million, representing as little as 3% of all market players, account for more than 90% of total online retail sales.
Recent developments as well as expectations for the current year point towards stable market conditions for the most frequently visited online stores, which are expected to hold steady or grow in the future, the survey says.
Based on 2009 data, the most popular product groups sold online include food, meals, drinks, computer and telecommunication devices, electronic entertainment products and books. The average value of a purchase was around HUF 11,000 last year. In 2009, only 1.3% of all online transactions proved to be fraudulent or erroneous, although this reflects a slight increase from previous years (0.5-0.9%).
One interesting tendency shows a growing number of Hungarian online stores are redesigning their image to appeal to female shoppers, and current trends indicate that women will make up one-half of all Hungarian online customers by 2010. PF
Source: http://www.depthai.go.th