Marcel Majsan: President of eCommerce Hrvatska Association
– How can companies stay ahead of market dynamics, and what strategies have been most effective in adapting to changes?
Croatian online sellers are not far behind the ones from Western Europe, but the problem is our small market. That’s why we encourage them to start selling cross border, which is getting easier every day thanks to the rise of fulfillment agencies and AI solutions that can translate whole website on any language we like.
– How does your organization perceive the role of eCommerce in contributing to the economic development of the local region?
Although ecommerce revenues make less than 10% of all retail in Croatia, our online spend has doubled in the last 5 years, and we have many people buying online quite regularly (our latest research showed that 45.8% of customers buy in the online channel once or more per month, n=1439). Still, we have more than 50 % of buyers paying with Cash on Deliver, and 64 % of them told us they don’t use cards because they are afraid their data will be stollen. That is very alarming and it is a clear signal that we need to invest more effort to educate the market. We are educating our members by organizing events and researches, but to make a serious impact, we need the help of our government institutions and all other key ecommerce players (like banks, popular service providers and big retailers) spreading awareness about the benefits of online shopping and educating the market about safe payment methods. Also, we need to help ordinary people recognize online scams, so we created a service that can help them check if the website is safe: https://check.ecommerce.hr
– Can you point out any regional characteristics in terms of payments, logistics, customer behavior, shopping habits, etc?
It is well known that people in Adria region prefer to pay with Cash on Delivery, and that they will likely use credit cards only to pay on 12 or more installments. This is specific for our market, which signals lack of trust and lack of buying power. Also, they still prefer their goods delivered to their door, which is not very economical and is very bad for the environment, since last mile delivery has to make 50-100 deliveries instead of 1, like when delivering to parcel boxes.
As for the shopping habits, our latest research (n=1439) shows that Croatian online customers trust domestic web stores. Namely, half of the respondents (49.7%) say that they most often shop in Croatian online stores, while only 8.2% of those who prefer to shop in foreign webshops. The remaining 42.1% of Croatian online customers state that they shop equally at domestic and foreign online stores. When we asked them what do they most often buy online, with the possibility of choosing only one answer, clothing and footwear are convincingly at the top of the list, which are bought most often by as many as 40% of online customers. Electronic devices follow far behind with 13.1%, cosmetic products with 9.7%, furniture with 6%, while food and event tickets each have a 5.5% share. It is very important for customers that the goods they buy are immediately available, because we have as many as 74.4% of those who, on a scale of 1-7, marked the item with grades 5, 6 and 7, which means that it is important to them. An even greater number of them want fast delivery of their order, so if we also use that metric here, where we can consider the answers at the top (5, 6 and 7) extremely important for customers, we arrive at the fact that 83.8% of online customers insist on fast delivery . This is a very clear message for both webshops and delivery services, as well as the attitude regarding the price of delivery, because as many as 87.2% of online customers want free or cheap delivery.
– Can you share examples of successfully positioned companies on your market in different verticals?
Our Association is providing free webshop analysis for all our members, and based on that analysis, we give awards for the best webshops in Croatia every year.
The Croatian webshop of the year is bima-shop.hr, according to the evaluations of the expert jury of this year’s exclusive event eCommAwards. The expert jury evaluated 74 webshops in six categories – User Experience (UX), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Legal Compliance (Legal), Analytics, Content and Marketing and Buyer’s Journey.
Panda’s lair is the winner of the Content category (content and marketing), and the store manager Maja Klanjčić received the award. Among the favorites were Lesnina, Mobis, Bio Bio, Namjestaj.hr, Marjan voće, Polleo Sport, Rox Beauty, Bima Shop and Tvornica zdrave hrane.
Namjestaj.hr is the winner of the UX (user experience) category, and the finalists were Polleo Sport, Pevex, Pismoreklam, Ljekarne Prima Farmacia, Europa 92, Exterim, Bijela tehnika, Bima Shop and Centar tehnika.
Volim ljuto is the winner of the SEO (search engine optimization) category, and the owner Goran Vrabec took the award. Among the finalists in that category were the webshops Lesnina, Marjan voće, Tvornica zdrave hrane, Bima Shop, Prima Farmacia Pharmacy, Polleo Sport, Emmezete, Malla and Mobisa.
Pevex is the winner of the Buyer’s journey category. The jury singled out nine webshops that stood out in that category – Bima Shop, Klima Best Shop, Mall.hr, Auro Domus, Tvornica zdrave hrane, Emmezeta, Centar tehnika, Žuti klik and Bačelić.
Auro Domus is the winner of the Analytics category, and the award was received by the executive director of marketing, Davor Žic. The top 10 included Lesnina, Cewe, Mobis, Emmezeta, Medic Pro, Denis Toys, Brands and Trends, Woolf and Žuti klik.
In the Legal category, the winner for the fourth year in a row was Lesnina, and Suzana Martić took the award. The finalists in that category were Bima Shop, Bačelić, Instrukjije za sve, Volim ljuto, Polleo Sport, Romobilia, Ljekarne Prima Farmacia, Bukal and Fitzone.
– How do organizations approach innovation in eCommerce, and what role does technology play in the picture?
Problem is that our market is small and we don’t have many big players that can afford expensive solutions. That doesn’t mean we don’t use the well established tech like modern payment solutions and delivery methods, but we noticed that it usually takes more time to implement new technologies on croatian ecommerce market, like AI tools, automation marketing software, advanced CRM-s and so on.
– What rating from 1 to 10 do you give to the local logistic companies and their role in delivery efficiency and customer satisfaction?
Most of them are pretty advanced, with very fast and reliable delivery, so i woul rate them 8 of 10. The most important thing for Croatian buyers is that delivery guys call them before the delivery, which most of them are doing already.
– In the context of increased interest in cross-border sales, how well prepared are the logistics companies from your country?
We have a few logistic companies doing cross border logistics, but only to neighbouring countries. But DHL is also very popular in Croatia, who can help retailers deliver their goods all over the world.
– How do eCommerce businesses leverage data analytics to make informed business decisions?
Not many of them use advanced Analytics data, at least according to our research two years ago. Like I said, the problem is the small market and many retailers have more important priorities than improving conversion rates (which is a shame, but it is how it is).
– Where do you see the future of eCommerce heading, and what role does your organization play in shaping that future in your country?
It is hard to predict the future in the time of AI revolution, but I would be happy if more croatian online players joined our Association, as we can help them increase trust in their online stores, make more sales and expand to foreign markets. First step would be for them to certify their webshop and show our Trustmark. Then, they need to start collecting customer reviews ASAP, as this is the easiest way to improve conversion rates, basically without any effort. And it is free for all our members.
– Can you share key eCommerce or digital marketing events a foreign business person should visit in your country?
Our CRO Commerce conference is the biggest ecommerce event in the region, as far as we know, but I would invite all people that have online businesses to also attend
Konverzija.org organized by Nedim Šabić in Bosnia, and of course, Balkan Ecommerce Summit organized by one and only Nikola Ilchev 🙂 I have been to many events, but those 3 are the most useful for ecommerce professionals by my modest judgment.
– Which are the key companies and organizations in your region helping the ecosystem grow?
There is Monri, who is the key player in retail Payment sector and one of main partners of our Association. There are also eCommerce development companies like Marker, Shipshape, Dwizards etc who are building some of the most advanced webshops in the region. Then, there are our premium webshop members, who help us finance our activities and distribute our surveys for online buyers. And finally, there are all those logistic companies that are helping us organize successful events, thanks to their engagement at them. Unfortunately, we did not get any help from our government, despite our efforts to include them in our activities.
– Which marketing channels have proven to be most effective for reaching a target audience?
Most of our retailers use Google Ads, Youtube ads and Meta ads for payed advertisement. They are also used to sending newsletters, but not many of them are using advanced automations and new marketing methods like affiliate or TikTok. Also, they are using price comparison sites to improve sales, as many Croatians are very price sensitive.
Size of the eCommerce as % of GDP of the country; Cca 1.5 billion €, 2 % of GDP
Internet usage; 83%
Number of people buying goods online; 70%
Approximate number of eCommerce shops; 3000-5000
Key market players:
ekupi.hr
mall.hr
bazzar.hr
emmezeta.hr
jysk.hr
xxxlesnina.hr
links.hr
sancta-domenica.hr
konzum.hr
bauhaus.hr
pevex.hr
sportvision.hr