Czech e-commerce turnover in 2023 was CZK185bn (€7.5bn), which is a decrease by 6% year-on-year. The drop confirms the retail data from Czech statisticians pointing to lower volumes in retail trade online throughout 2023 amid dampened household consumption.

Fourth quarter figures registered a return to growth of 2%, signalling some improvements, according to the data compiled by the Association for Electronic Commerce (APEK) and online platform Heureka.cz, as eCommerce Insider report.

“Nearly two years long slump in sales of internet shops has finally stopped” the report reads, adding that the Christmas shopping “is traditionally among the most important periods of the year” and “flipped the quarter results to 2% growth”.

In 2022 the turnover was CZK197bn at 12% drop, while 2021 saw CZK223bn turnover at 14% growth, boosted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Czech Republic is one of the leaders in e-commerce in Central and Eastern Europe, with 86% of Czechs making online purchases and 15% selling online, according to Statista.

Commenting on 2023, General Director of Heureka Group David Chmelar said that “we saw that people already got used to shopping online, they just purchase items with lower value, which was also reflected in the lower average value of [placed] orders”.

Chmelar added that the end of the year registered “the best result” in all of 2023.

Last year’s high inflation accompanied by soaring costs led to “a slight decrease in the number of e-shops on the Czech market from 50,100 to 49,900”, commented Jan Vetyska, CEO of APEK.

Vetyska also noted the inflow of “foreign actors”, highlighted by the report, and the use of artificial intelligence.

“We must not forget that the new generation of shoppers differs from the previous ones in many aspects”, Vetyska said. He expects the “return to growth” in e-commerce.

Products previously available only in physical stores are beginning to make their way online, the report also noted.

Electronics remained the strongest sector in e-commerce with a 22% share, although this fell from 25% in 2019. Cosmetics and health registered growth to 8% from 6% in 2019.

The end of 2023 also registered a major acquisition on the Czech e-commerce market when online logistics company Packeta, which owns the franchise leading brand Zasilkovna, was acquired by a consortium of CVC, Emma Captial of PPF’s CEO Jiri Smejc, and investment group R2G founded by billionaire Oldrich Slemr.

The price of the acquisition was not published and Czech media speculated it is likely in “higher billions”.

The Packeta disposal, announced in May, attracted several local as well as international investors including Royal Mail’s International Distributions Services, GLS, PPF Group and energy oligarch Daniel Kretinsky.

Packeta is present in four European countries and registered an increase in turnover by one quarter to CZK6bn in 2022, with profits before tax dropping by 40% to CZK172mn.