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A growing number of Greeks buy goods through the web. Even in times of crisis, this year they spent more money this way than last year. Significantly, the average value of online purchases increased by 10% in 2015 compared to 2014. In contrast to the crisis and capital controls – or perhaps precisely because of these factors – Greeks will most probably use electronic shopping even more in 2016.

One in every two consumers believes that online shopping in Greece will increase in 2016 – this is what the annual Greek e-commerce survey of the ecommerce lab ELTRUN at the Economic University of Athens shows.

According to the survey, 43% of Greeks believe that online shopping will increase next year, with only 19% sharing the opposite opinion.

Progress in 2015 electronic commerce compared to 2014 is visible. 5% is the increase of categories of products purchased electronically. Moreover, for 25% of consumers their electronic purchases represent over 50% of the total amount they buy. In 2014 this was the case for only 9% of online customers.

This year's survey shows a clear tendency to use smartphones for online shopping: 32% of respondents use applications to facilitate shopping, while 11% have installed applications easing their way around various promotions.

For the first time, mobile phones have surpassed laptops. 89% of respondents said their phones were the way they connected to the Internet, while personal computers only took fourth place with 60%.

Greece is already yet another country with an expressed multi-channel consumer behaviour. 33% of the population carries out their standard shopping having first consulted the web. 16% of online shopping is done after users first visit the stores.

The main sources of information as regards online shopping are price comparison websites (72% vs. 63% in 2014), company websites (62%) and review pages (52%).

The three main reasons for shopping online are linked to prices and promotions: finding the best prices (66%), direct price and product comparisons (53% vs. 39% in 2014), ease of finding promotions (38% vs. 30% in 2014).

But the delivery of goods ordered online seems to be an issue. 19% of respondents claimed that delivery costs are typically too high vis-a-vis product value.

Among the categories of products/services purchased online during the first nine months of 2015, the first two places are occupied by travel and holidays, while accessories and computer equipment have climbed from fourth to third place.

Among the main reasons for using the Internet in 2015 are two services supporting online shopping: online market research and price comparisons (74%) and online banking (57%), with the latter having increased by 14% compared to 2014, mainly because of capital controls.

Greeks are intense social media users. 41% mark with 'like' certain commodities. Nevertheless, the influence of these media on consumer behaviour is still limited: only 23% are likely to buy a product they liked in social media.

The main features of electronic stores that affect positively customer confidence are: the secure payment method (46%), low prices and promotions (42%), websites which are fast and easy to navigate (37%), clear conditions of use (35%), good reviews on sites and in blogs (32%).