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E-commerce Report 2022: increase in the frequency and value of online purchases in Slovenia

09. 12. 2022

The new E-commerce Report 2022, for which research was carried out by Valicon, a marketing consultancy and research company, and Ceneje.si, a platform for comparative online shopping and advice to online buyers, shows a significant increase in the frequency of online shopping in Slovenia. The research was conducted as part of the regional E-commerce competition Web Retailer Award 2022 and the E-commerce Jam conference. According to the results of this year's survey, the online shopping trend is on the rise again, with 76% of respondents regularly shopping online. The majority of online buyers are members of generation X, i.e. those over 45 years old, and they most often buy clothes, footwear and fashion accessories. We are also noticing an increase in the average purchase value, which is currently €100. This year's E-commerce Report 2022 confirmed the undoubted growth trend of online shopping in Slovenia. The growth comes primarily from an increase in the frequency of shopping and an ever-increasing range of products. Given that there are still 4% of Internet users who do not make purchases online - and we estimate that this proportion will remain over time -, we do not expect a significant increase in the number of customers, but we expect that the frequency of shopping will increase in the next continued to increase over the years. 

What do we buy in online stores and how much are we willing to pay for it

In 2022, Slovenians made the most purchases in the category of clothing and footwear, electronics and then home and garden products. In 2021, we noticed changes in the structure of the market, where fashion took the position of the first category in terms of the number of purchases. The structure of purchases remained unchanged from last year. In terms of value, the electronics and home and garden categories maintain their leading position in online shopping. Compared to previous years, the average value of the purchase remained at a similar level, i.e. we spend an average of €104 per purchase in domestic online stores.

When analyzing the average purchase value, we must take into account that the industry structure has also changed in the last 5 years. Among the largest categories was fashion, where the average purchase value is lower (€82) than in the categories home and garden (€181) and electronics (€126). The new E-commerce Report also shows the growing trend of the grocery store segment. Food and beverage shopping deserves special attention, although it is still a small category both in terms of the number of customers and in terms of value, but we are recording a growth trend. Since 2019, the share of purchases made in domestic online stores has grown from 3% to 8%, and in terms of value from 2% to 5%.

We buy (even) less abroad

The long-term impact of the pandemic was also shown in the change in the behavior of online shoppers. COVID has impacted domestic online consumers by bringing them closer to local online stores. If we compare the share of foreign and domestic online stores in which Slovenian customers most often shop, according to the data of this year's E-commerce Report, we see that only 9% of the total value of purchases is made in foreign online stores.

During the period of the COVID measures, we noticed that the share of purchases in foreign stores was falling: in 2019, 36% were completed in foreign stores, in 2020 26%, in 2021 16% and this year only 14% of purchases were made. COVID accelerated this, but it was also influenced by the development of the fashion industry, which at the same time established itself as a driving industry.

As for payments, according to the results of the E-commerce Report 2022, payment by prepaid, debit and credit cards (including PayPal) remains the most popular payment method. More than half of the customers already choose this method. Therefore, 56% of purchases are paid with one of the card payment methods, 30% with cash and 14% with other methods (e.g. direct transfers to TRR). In the last 3 years, these shares have stabilized.

Mobile phone use at a tipping point

This year's E-commerce Report showed that the mobile phone is consolidating its position among the key devices for online shopping. 43% of online purchases were made via mobile phone and 50% via laptop or desktop PC. So we are at an inflection point where mobile is very likely to increase its share and with that the demand for a mobile-friendly store will be unquestionable. The issue of app development is already late.

Research methodology

The research for this year's E-commerce Report 2022 was conducted by Valicon and Ceneje.si in October 2022 as part of the competition for the best online retailers in the Adriatic region - Web Retailer Award 2022. Online purchases were observed, and 1,976 consumers participated in the research. The research was carried out with the help of Valicon's online panel JazVem and with a sample of online store buyers who independently invited them to participate. The data collected in this way is not used for comparative analyses, but only for comparing the online store with a representative sample.

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