More Moderate Growth in Domestic Online Retail Sales

According to Reacty Digital's annual online retail survey, domestic online retail sales reached HUF 1,378 billion in 2022, with a more moderate growth of 8% compared to recent years.

In a summary sent to MTI on Tuesday, it was reported that during the coronavirus outbreak, due to the closures, more people shopped online more often than before, but with the end of the crackdown, many returned to shopping in stores. The surges were clearly unsustainable in the long term and could be replaced by lower annual growth of 8-15% in a stabilizing environment.

The number of orders fell from 87 million to 79 million last year, with consumers ordering less online than in the previous year, but more each time.

Clothing and accessories retained its number one position, home furnishings came second in terms of 2022 sales, while computer equipment dropped to third place. Food and toys and gifts are the fourth and fifth new categories.

According to Reacty Digital's medium-term forecast, Hungarian e-retail sales are expected to double by 2027 according to the optimistic forecast, while the pessimistic forecast shows a one-and-a-half-fold increase, and the realistic forecast is for sales growth to be between the two thresholds within five years. However, this year, the optimistic estimate is also more likely to be stagnant or even declining in real terms, they said.

Among the challenges for the near future, they cite the growing number of foreign players entering the Hungarian market and their ability to successfully assert themselves. Consumers are often not even aware that they are buying from a foreign operator, but the survey shows that this is not necessarily important to them, as they prefer to stick to a Hungarian-language website and customer service. With the emergence of international players, the Hungarian online market is becoming increasingly saturated, but only a fraction of Hungarian online stores sell cross-border, opening up new consumer segments.