Croatia flag Croatia: Buying and Selling

E-commerce in Croatia

E-commerce

Internet access
Croatia has a population of 4.17 million people, and it has an internet penetration rate of 74.2%. The share of monthly active smartphone users is estimated to be at 60.4% (Statista). Croatia ranks 22nd out of the 28 EU Member States in the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) 2018 published by the European Commission. Overall, it has made good progress over the last few years. Croatian citizens are above average internet users and enterprises are also keen to employ digital technologies. An estimated 20% of Croatian businesses are active in e-commerce (U.S. Gov). According to data by Statista, 100% of Croatian internet 16-24 year-old users connect daily, the rate is 97% for those between 25-34 years, and 93% for the 35-44 years-old group. People between 45-54 years and over 55s have a 85% and 77% daily penetration rate, respectively. The most popular web search engines in Croatia are Google (96.6%), Bing and Yahoo (1.7% and 1.3% respectively).
E-commerce market
E-commerce in Croatia has been growing steadily in recent years, especially since the country joined the EU in 2013.  Market research agencies estimate that the e-commerce market value in Croatia reached US$ 446 million in 2017 (U.S. Gov). The average revenue per user is currently estimated at US$ 166. According to recent research by the Croatian daily Poslovni Dnevnik, there were approximately 1.75 million e-shoppers in Croatia at the end of 2017 (out of a population of 4 million).  2017 saw a growth rate of 18% in terms of online shoppers, with roughly 250,000 Croatians who started to buy online. Reportedly, 60% of internet users in Croatia purchase online, and between 6% and 10% of them make online purchases on a monthly basis (a 9% increase from the previous year).  Only 6% of online users have never purchased online (U.S. Gov). An estimated 40% of Croatian online shoppers order from stores outside of Croatia, mostly from China and the EU. The main focus is on the media and electronics sectors, with a market value forecasted at USD 181 million in 2018. Online shoppers also buy clothing, shoes, fashion accessories and food. About 40% of Croatian online retailers serving the Croatian market exclusively, while another 40% are open to foreign markets (especially the EU). Amazon, eBay, and Extreme Digital are the most popular sites in Croatia, along with locally-developed platforms eKupi and Abrakadabra. Almost 90% of Croatian internet users actively look for information about the product or service before purchase, often using different channels. When it comes to online payment methods, 21% of buyers use credit cards, whereas PayPal and similar services are used by only 10% of buyers. Smartphone payment applications issued by banks -currently used by 13% of buyers – are growing. However, the majority of e-shoppers still prefer to use direct bank transfers (31%) or Cash on Delivery (25%). Most internet users (more than 74%) in Croatia use the internet for social media. The most popular social networking site is Facebook, with an estimated 1.9 million users (over 70% are aged 18-44). Instagram has 760,000 users, of which 54% are women. Viber is the most used messaging service in Croatia, ahead of WhatsApp and Messenger.

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Latest Update: March 2024