Skroutz Shopping Simplified: From Cross-border to Borderless

At Balkan eCommerce Summit 2026, Thanasis Psychogios from Skroutz presented the evolution of Skroutz from a Greek price-comparison platform into one of the leading marketplace ecosystems in Southeast Europe, outlining the company’s long-term vision for building a fully borderless Balkan commerce environment.

The lecture focused on:

• marketplace transformation
• logistics ownership
• payment innovation
• international expansion
• personalized shopping
• merchant growth
• the future of Balkan cross-border commerce

From Price Comparison to Marketplace Ecosystem

The presentation began with the story of Skroutz’s origins.

Founded in 2005, Skroutz originally started as:

a price comparison platform

created after one of the founders struggled to find the right PC product online.

For many years, the platform operated primarily as:

• a search and discovery engine
• a product comparison destination
• the place where Greek consumers searched for products before buying

The speaker explained that by 2019:

• more merchants
• more categories
• and more consumers

had made Skroutz one of the dominant digital commerce platforms in Greece.

2020: The Strategic Turning Point

According to Thanasis:

2020 completely transformed Skroutz.

The company decided to move beyond product discovery and take:

full ownership of the customer journey.

This strategic shift marked the transition from:

• comparison platform
  to
• full marketplace ecosystem.

To support this evolution, Skroutz invested heavily in:

• payments
• logistics
• checkout systems
• delivery infrastructure
• merchant services

Building the Marketplace Infrastructure

One of the core themes of the lecture was:

controlling the end-to-end commerce experience.

The company launched:

• EveryPay → its own payment service provider
• Skroutz Last Mile → its own courier and logistics infrastructure

The goal was to solve two major pain points in Balkan eCommerce:

• payments
• logistics

which were repeatedly highlighted throughout the Summit as key barriers to scalable cross-border commerce.

The Vision: Becoming the “Everyday App”

Thanasis explained that Skroutz no longer sees itself simply as a marketplace.

The company’s ambition is to become:

the “everyday app” for commerce in the Balkans.

This means:

• daily usage
• integrated services
• seamless shopping
• logistics ownership
• payment convenience
• personalized experiences
• cross-border scalability

Expanding Beyond Greece

The lecture highlighted Skroutz’s regional expansion strategy.

Skroutz is now active in:

• Greece
• Cyprus
• Romania
• Bulgaria

The company launched:

• Cyprus in 2023
• Romania in 2025
• Bulgaria recently through Skroutz.bg

The goal is no longer simply:

cross-border commerce

but:

borderless commerce.

The Scale of Skroutz

The session shared several major marketplace figures:

Skroutz generated:

• approximately €1 billion GMV
• over 6.3 million monthly unique visitors

making it one of the largest eCommerce ecosystems in the region.

The Recipe Behind Marketplace Success

According to Thanasis, marketplace success depends on several critical pillars:

1. Strong product selection

Consumers must find:

• wide assortment
• availability
• competitive offers

2. Fast delivery

Delivery speed was described as:

one of the most important marketplace differentiators.

3. Smooth user experience

The platform aims to reduce friction throughout:

• discovery
• checkout
• payment
• delivery
• after-sales

Helping Sellers Scale – Not Just Join

A particularly important point during the lecture was that Skroutz does not want merchants to:

simply list products.

Instead, the platform wants sellers to:

scale and grow with Skroutz.

The company is building:

• marketing tools
• advertising systems
• growth tools
• marketplace optimization features

to actively help merchants expand across multiple Balkan markets.

Moving From Transactional to Inspirational Commerce

Thanasis explained that the future of marketplaces is changing.

Previously:
users came to Skroutz with clear purchase intent:

• search product
• compare prices
• buy

Now the marketplace aims to become:

inspirational rather than purely transactional.

This means helping users discover products they may not even know they want yet.

Personalized Marketplace Experiences

The lecture emphasized:

hyper-personalization.

Each user now sees:

• different products
• different recommendations
• different marketplace experiences

based on:

• browsing behavior
• previous searches
• shopping patterns
• category interests

For one user, Skroutz may feel like:

• a fashion marketplace

while for another:

• a sports marketplace
• a tech marketplace
• or a beauty marketplace

depending entirely on their behavior.

The “Best Offer” Is No Longer Only Price

One of the strongest strategic messages in the lecture was:

price alone is no longer enough.

The “Buy Button” on Skroutz is now determined by multiple factors:

• pricing
• stock availability
• delivery quality
• operational reliability
• order acceptance rate
• merchant performance

This reflects a major shift from:

cheapest offer

to:

best overall customer experience.

Payment Behavior Is Rapidly Changing

Unlike the broader Greek market discussed in previous presentations, Skroutz marketplace data shows:

around 70% of orders are now paid by card.

Cash on delivery continues declining.

The platform is also seeing increasing adoption of:

• Klarna
• Revolut payments
• Buy Now Pay Later solutions
• prepaid digital payments

According to the speaker:
this reflects growing:

customer trust in marketplace ecosystems.

Logistics and After-Sales Are Critical

The lecture strongly emphasized:

after-sales experience.

For Skroutz:
the customer journey does not end at checkout.

Consumers expect:

• real-time tracking
• delivery transparency
• predictable delivery windows
• full shipment visibility
• reliable support

The company sees logistics quality as:

central to trust and retention.

Why Skroutz Changed Its Cross-Border Model

One of the most important operational insights in the session was the company’s evolution from:

FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant)

toward:

Shipped by Skroutz.

Initially, merchants handled their own shipping.

However, this created:

• inconsistent delivery experiences
• poor tracking visibility
• lower customer satisfaction
• weaker NPS scores

As a result, Skroutz strategically moved toward:

centralized logistics ownership.

Building a Borderless Balkan Commerce Infrastructure

The long-term vision presented was ambitious:

creating a fully borderless Balkan commerce ecosystem.

The company wants users in:

• Greece
• Bulgaria
• Romania
• Cyprus

to receive:

the same marketplace experience regardless of country.

This requires:

• integrated logistics
• consistent delivery standards
• payment interoperability
• localized operations
• cross-border infrastructure

Key Strategic Takeaways

The lecture highlighted several major shifts shaping the future of Balkan eCommerce:

marketplaces are evolving from transactional platforms into full ecosystem experiences
ownership of logistics and payments creates stronger customer trust
speed and reliability are becoming more important than lowest price
personalization is central to modern marketplace growth
cross-border commerce in the Balkans is moving toward borderless commerce
marketplaces must help merchants grow, not just list products
customer experience now extends far beyond checkout
delivery transparency and after-sales service are critical differentiators
centralized logistics models outperform fragmented merchant shipping models
the future of Balkan eCommerce will be ecosystem-driven, data-driven, and highly integrated

The overall conclusion of the lecture was that Skroutz is positioning itself not simply as Greece’s largest marketplace, but as a regional commerce infrastructure platform aiming to reshape how Balkan consumers discover, buy, pay, and receive products across borders.