Ecommerce in Bulgaria

Bulgaria is a country in South-eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, and the Black Sea to the east. Bulgaria is Europe’s 16th-largest country. Bulgaria is the 66th largest export economy in the world and the 37th most complex economy according to the Economic Complexity Index (ECI). The top export destinations of Bulgaria are Germany, Italy, Turkey, Romania and Greece.

Looking for ecommerce software for selling in Europe? Lightspeed and Shopify are both platforms that are well optimized for cross-border ecommerce.

Content:

• Ecommerce customers in Bulgaria
• The ecommerce market in Bulgaria
• Big online stores in Bulgaria
• Latest ecommerce news from or about Bulgaria

Ecommerce customers in Bulgaria

Most online consumers in Bulgaria like to pay with cash on delivery. This method, sometimes shortened as COD, has a 60-70 percent share (the exact share varies by source) and is therefore the most popular payment method in Bulgarian ecommerce. Credit cards (around 20 percent) and ePay/EasyPay (5-10 percent) are also popular online payment methods. The remaining payment methods have a 1-2 percent share each, according to information from Mediapost HitMail Bulgaria.

The share of people who buy goods (with focus on fashion) or services online in Bulgaria goes past 20%, while those who use online banking is close to 15 percent. Since 2012, the level of confidence of consumers towards using the internet to buy or sell goods and services as well as engage in activities such as online banking increased by more than 15 percent. This implies that the number of people who are likely to engage in ecommerce is boosted yearly at a high rate.

In 2014, the national statistical institute NSI stated the most popular online product categories in Bulgaria were clothes and sports goods, household items, travel, food, electronics, books and event tickets.

The ecommerce market in Bulgaria

Since 2000, a rapid increase in the number of internet users has occurred in Bulgaria – from 430,000 they grew to 1,545,100 in 2004 and to 3.4 million (48 percent penetration rate) in 2010. It may have had something to do with the fact Bulgaria has one of the fastest average broadband internet connections in the world.

Are you looking to do cross-border business? Get your free digital copy of Cross-Border Magazine now and stay informed.

According to sources, sales via the internet grew by 10 percent to 119 million Bulgarian levs (11 percent of all purchases) in 2013. Annual growth in 2015 is expected to be between 10-17 percent depending on the source. The total value of the market (which includes purchases from websites abroad) in 2014 was 2.6 billion euros, according to NSI. During that year, more than 925,000 people have made an online purchase.

Big online stores in Bulgaria

eMag is a major online store in Bulgaria. It offers many different products, from consumer electronics to fashion and toys. With regards to selling clothing online, FashionDays is a major ecommerce player. Other big online stores in Bulgaria are Miniprix, Koketna and MyMall. The aforementioned eMag, but also Technomarket and Technopolis are leaders with selling electronics online. VMzona, Gift.bg and Get.bg are amongst the biggest online stores with their primary focus on gifts and accessories. Major online book stores are Store.bg, Helikon.bg, and Ozone.bg.

Read all our articles about ecommerce in Bulgaria.

Last update: June 2019.