Despite the crisis, internet commerce may expand
Although retail sales in EU member states fell by an average of 1,9 per cent last year due to the crisis, e-commerce grew by about 10 per cent in 2011 and the sector is forecast to grow further despite the crisis, the allegroup said.
Referring to the research data of GKIeNET, the company emphasizes that the acceleration of online retail traffic in Hungary is also visible: while four years ago the turnover of the online retail market barely exceeded HUF 60 billion, last year it was already around HUF 150 billion, by 2012 and a turnover of HUF 175-180 billion is expected.
By 2016, the share of e-commerce within total retail sales in developing countries is also projected to approach the 6 percent average for developed states.
The statement quotes Géza Ambruszter, head of the online research institute Gemius in Hungary, who emphasized that online sales are still the most widespread in Europe in the West, and in some countries e-commerce accounts for more than 10 percent of total retail sales. The fastest growing region in Europe, on the other hand, is the Middle East: in Poland, for example, e-commerce turnover grew by 24 percent last year.
According to some research, the soaring of e-commerce in Europe can be attributed primarily to the rise of smart phones and tablets. An interesting trend is that while most webshops have mobile applications, users prefer to shop through a browser on their mobile devices: devices with higher screen resolutions have a higher proportion of users browsing e-commerce pages, the statement said.
According to Géza Ambruszter, further development should be sought in the promotion of the Internet, as well as the provision of e-commerce concepts that can live up to their promise. Of course, the United States is still at the forefront of developing business models today. On the other hand, the time for receiving the concepts is getting shorter and shorter, points out Gergely Kis, the managing director of GKIeNET, according to the announcement.
Source: MTI
