E-commerce trends in 2023

Guest writer:
Ferenc Sági
head of research
NRC

The Covid didn’t bring the new normal, but it speeded up the old one. More and more consumers began using the different online channels, but by the time we started defining the changes that had occurred in the previous 2-3 years as a trend, another crisis hit us, the outcome of which we can’t tell at the moment. All of this makes consumer behaviour very unpredictable – as it can be seen very well from our November survey too.

What is certain…

Several things seem to be certain in the world of e-commerce. E-consumer penetration can’t grow any further and it can’t really shrink either. Already before Covid more than 70% of consumers ordered something online minimum once a year, and by 2020 this ratio reached 83%, where it has stayed ever since. Between 2017 and 2019 7-8% were ordering groceries online, then in 2020 this proportion jumped to 14-15% and it has remained there. Certain sectors simply can’t be separated from e-commerce, and a typical example of this is the OTC market. Toys and games, beauty products, DIY and consumer electronics also seem to be product categories that do very well online. During the pandemic 75-80% of consumers had the products they had bought online delivered to their homes, but by now this rate has dropped to 65%. At the same time parcel locker (e.g. Foxpost) use is growing rapidly. It very much seems that no consumer attitude or expectation will break the growth trend in parcel locker delivery. Consumers trust online shopping much more than 2-3 years ago. This trend has a positive influence on the number of purchases made on social media platforms (e.g. Marketplace).

…and what is uncertain

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2023.2-3.