Carmen Cureu is Market Research Director for Geopost, responsible for market and consumer insights worldwide. She has a strong background of market research, having previously worked for more than a decade within international market research leaders GfK and Millward Brown, where she specialized in international research on brand, communications and customer experience. Carmen is passionate about consumers and all the forces that shape their behaviors and attitudes.

• With over a decade of experience in international market research, what key lessons have you learned about understanding consumer behavior and attitudes across different regions and cultures?

Global e-commerce trends

–         E-commerce has become a smart way to purchase, a daily essential in all European horizons, shaped by the numerous crises that hit Europe in recent times: the successive impact of Covid, pushing tremendously consumers’ uptake of online shopping, the war in Ukraine and the strong inflation, shaping e-shoppers’ behaviors, and in between – Brexit

–         Critical success factors in this context for e-tailers across Europe: daring omnichannel approach, innovation, and capitalization on new growth segments such as C2C

During this decade, consumer behavior shifted, with some milestones along the way

–         2018: digitization => smartphones usage increases for buying online, with some markets leading the way, like the Balkans and more generally speaking Easter Europe

–         2019: E-shoppers start to expect e-commerce to be environmentally responsible

–         2020: Food category emerges as the most often purchased online (thanks to and because of COVID)

–         2021: consumers are more and more demanding

–         2022: Price consciousness is shaping consumer behavior

–         2023: C2C big bang, social shopping starting to be more relevant in Europe, with Eastern Europe leading the way, and continued increase of e-shoppers’ preference for out of home delivery methods

• What do you find most interesting about studying consumer behavior in the context of e-commerce?

–         It is fascinating to see how shopping behaviors can be a reflection of society, culture

–         The E-shopper Barometer gives us a picture of e-commerce evolution over the last 8 years in all corners of Europe, with all the diversity of European cultures clearly highlighted

–         The survey also allows to “detect” and analyze specific e-shoppers profiles: the regular e-shoppers, those who purchase on a monthly basis, but also the aficionados – the heavy e-shoppers, those who purchase the most and are therefore the engine of e-commerce throughout Europe. It is by analyzing the behaviors of aficionados compared to the regular e-shoppers that we manage to identify the soft signals of consumer habits’ changes, that will shape tomorrow’s macro trends in the e-commerce space.

• What do you see as the biggest challenges in conducting market research in the e-commerce industry, and how do you address them?

–         E-commerce market in Europe consists of 20 to 30 different markets => different in terms of size, maturity, habits

–         Methodological approach is essential: a weight is applied to each country in order to reflect the right proportion of e-shoppers between the European countries.

–         Relevance is key: we interview e-shoppers who ordered physical goods online and, received at least one parcel during the 6 months prior to interviews collection

–         Timeframe : fieldwork conducted each year at the same period, to avoid seasonality biases (e-commerce being an industry that has several peaks over the year – pre-X-mas, of course, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, depending on the countries, and the sales season, very much anchored in local timeframes in each country).

–         Neutrality as well: the survey is realized with no mention whatsoever of carrier or e-tailer brands.  This survey is not about us or about our competitors, it is about e-shoppers’ profiles, habits, preferences and expectations.

• Looking to the future, what trends do you anticipate in consumer behavior within the e-commerce space?

Increasing need of personnalization

o   Tailored services are expected by consumers, both in terms of e-tailer and carrier offers è e-commerce is not about purchasing a “neutral” item, but THE item that answers all the needs of the buyer

o   stronger connections between brands and consumers, in order for brands to be able to answer the expectations in terms of hyper-personalization

o   trusting—and lasting—client relationships, as e-shoppers all across Europe are very loyal!

One of the means to achieve this is offered by AI => generative AI & machine learning bringing new tools

• Tasks automation
• Improving tailor-made offers
• Real-time customer support

Sustainability has become a must-have in Western Europe and gains strongly in terms of importance in Easter European countries

Social media platforms quickly becoming the new trendy marketplaces è Eastern European e-shoppers, who arrived in the e-commerce space at the time of smart phones and social media boom, lead the way, in the footsteps of their Asian peers, already big fans of social selling.

GenZ will definitely represent a significant base of customers

o   Born between 1997 and 2012, Gen Z displays particular habits when it comes to e-shopping.

o   They care deeply about efficiency (fast purchase, being able to choose the speed of delivery, etc.) and tend to rely on opinions about a website when shopping online

o   Heavy users of C2C platforms (in both buying and selling) and find this mode of shopping trendier than Regular e-shoppers do.

o   They are also heavy users of social media for shopping and are much more influenced by social media than Regulars are when they choose a website or application to shop from.

o   more demanding than other e-shoppers throughout the entire process

As a speaker at BalkaneCommerceSummit2024, what message do you hope to convey to the audience about market research in the e-commerce sector?

–         Research in this fast-moving industry that is e-commerce is a true strategic compass that allows all stakeholders to be connected to consumers’ shifting habits and expectations, thus increasing the relevance of the offers pushed to the market

–         The Balkans drive the e-commerce momentum in Europe! Rapid uptake of online purchasing habits from e-shoppers in this region ensures an increase in the maturity of the industry in the region. And this goes hand in hand with e-shoppers in the area skipping some more “traditional” ways of purchasing, well established in Western Europe, to jump directly to new behaviors, coming from the most mature e-commerce markets in Asia.

Balkan eCommerce Summit 2024 is a two-day forum that will take place in Arena Sofia on April 4th and 5th, 2024. The organizer, Nikola Ilchev, promises an impressive event that will bring new perspectives to e-commerce in the Balkan region.

If you are planning to do business in the Balkans or beyond, your place is at the Balkan eCommerce Summit 2024 – https://balkanecommerce.com/.