How to compete with cheap foreign online retailers?

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 02. 28. 11:23

COVID gave an incredible boost to domestic e-commerce, as most people switched to home delivery due to the epidemic. However, after the epidemic subsided, the growth rate of e-commerce stalled, to which cheap Chinese and Turkish online stores brought a big change again. This also means that imported e-commerce clearly became the engine of growth in 2024. Competition with global and regional players requires Hungarian e-retailers to provide increasingly advanced services, technological innovation and a high-level customer experience, say Auchan e-com experts.

In addition to the decline in purchasing power, e-retailers see the biggest problems as rising advertising costs, rising retail prices and the strengthening role of Chinese retailers. Fortunately, the latter have less impact on food trade.
“Auchan, for example, is trying to compete with its wide range of products typical of hypermarkets, with quality and reliability, as well as with its prices that are permanently cheaper than last year. In addition, we believe that we must connect and make our sales channels interoperable, so that the customer can choose the most suitable and most convenient for him, even within a single transaction,”
– said Attila Nagy, Auchan’s sales director.

In Auchan’s Online Store, you can choose from more than 25,000 products. This actually means that although Auchan has 24 stores in Hungary, its stock of products is available to anyone in even the smallest settlement by home delivery. They mainly deliver durable food, as well as daily and small durable consumer goods to many parts of the country. The best sellers are: non-perishable food, healthy products, international cuisine, chemical products, perfumes, baby equipment, pet food, kitchen utensils, bathroom equipment, home decoration products, stationery, car care products and tools needed for minor home renovation. The ordered products are delivered to their destination within two working days. In the case of home delivery, it is worth choosing the delivery method without additional packaging, because this way the customer can check the item upon receipt that their order has arrived intact. Non-perishable food can also be ordered to GLS and Foxpost parcel machines, if it is more convenient for someone.

Now it is doubly worth shopping online at Auchan, because until mid-March, a coupon discount of 2500 forints can be applied for a minimum basket value (spending) of 25,000 forints. It is therefore worth having your weekly and monthly shopping delivered to your home in many parts of the country, because it is not only more convenient, but also more cost-effective.