E-commerce is on the rise in Serbia, and in the previous three years the value of realized transactions has increased by 300%. Since the beginning of the year, this upward trajectory has continued, and during the introduction of the state of emergency, significant growth has been confirmed, said today Tatjana Matic, State Secretary at the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications.
At the online conference “Trends in e-commerce in Serbia – eCommerce as the key to success in modern times” organized by the Serbian Association of Managers (SAM), she pointed out that e-commerce in Serbia has a future, but is not used enough, and that there is still much space for development.
– The line ministry did everything it could in terms of the norm to facilitate electronic commerce, but as in many other areas in Serbia, the implementation of that is still a problem – said Matic.
She said that the situation with the pandemic showed that the investment, as well as the insistence on the development of electronic commerce, proved to be very significant.
– Postal operators have noticed an increase in the number of shipments. Delivery of goods purchased through e-commerce increased by as much as 40%, while retailers recorded a growth of 50%, up to as much as 300%, which of course depends on the type of goods and services that are offered and sold – says Matic.
According to her, even after the lifting of the state of emergency, postal operators recorded higher growth than at the time of the pandemic, so that growth is still from 50 to 100%, while most traders kept the increase to 100% compared to the previous year.
She also pointed out that the biggest increase was recorded in the online food store. Namely, the online purchase of food increased by 200%, clothing by 100%, and technical devices and computer equipment by 50%.
– This is very interesting because in the previous period, computer equipment and technical goods were mostly bought, and food was rented, now there has been a reverse increase – says Matic and states that these data are very encouraging, and “that we are on the right track when we are talking about the importance of e-commerce”.
Matic also pointed out at the conference that the trust of citizens as well as consumer protection is important, and that the relevant ministry has made guides for e-commerce for that purpose.
– There were great prejudices and mistrust of citizens regarding e-commerce. The Ministry, in cooperation with USAID, has therefore developed e-commerce guides, which provide all the necessary information and advice and which remove suspicions and online security traps. That is another of our contributions.
– It is very important that citizens have a place where they can get all the information such as checking sellers, terms of purchase, protection of digital devices and of course data storage – the State Secretary concluded, eKapija reports.
