March the 27th, 2022 - The first and as such very well known Croatian KupiMe platform (BuyMe), is planning to further expand across the immediate region and further explore its own potential.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Croatian KupiMe platform, known for being the first of its kind in this country intended primarily for group shopping and coupon sales, has recently invested significant funds in business expansion and the development of specialised software for online shopping (e-commerce).

With this, the Croatian KupiMe platform decided to use its many years of experience in the coupon sales segment to expand its business to fast-growing e-commerce, and from next week, their online store will be enriched with products from more than 100,000 different Croatian and foreign suppliers.

Commenting on this significant step forward in doing business, the director of the KupiMe platform, Renata Krstic, pointed out that this is a logical direction for the company's development and a step forward on the market which, by some estimates, will be worth more than five trillion US dollars by the end of this year.

"KupiMe has its traditional audience and loyal customers who regularly visit the site, and now they're going to be able to purchase different categories of products, from household items and consumer electronics to fashion and office equipment. The data shows that 30 percent of retail sales will soon take place online, and KupiMe plans to be part of that growth by providing an online shopping platform for more than 100,000 Croatian and foreign suppliers,'' said Krstic.

Stronger expansion across Croatia's immediate region

At the same time, this ambitious platform isn't planning to concentrate solely on the Croatian market, but to break into regional positions in which the brand has its own market foundation and recognisability. For example, in Serbia alone, KupiMe has been operating successfully and autonomously for twelve years. According to some research, despite the large penetration of foreign webshops in the markets of the region, customers still mostly prefer to buy items from domestic online stores, and the Croatian KupiMe platform has such a perception across all countries in Croatia's most immediate region.

“The potential of online commerce is huge, and our market trump card is our wealth of accumulated knowledge, experience, databases and special software solutions. We're the only ones on the market to connect the coupon sales experiences with ''classic’''online product sales. In one place, we now offer the most famous brands, available at any time of the day, and soon we will present new innovative projects with which we plan to dictate trends in the e-commerce market of the region,'' concluded Renata Krstic.

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November the 15th, 2021 - Online shopping has always been the favourite way of getting things done from the comfort of your own home in other parts of Europe, but until recently, more precisely until the coronavirus pandemic erupted, it lagged here in Croatia. Things have now dramatically changed and numerous big players are entering the Croatian e-commerce world.

As Novac/Jutarnji/Bernard Ivezic writes, the growth of Croatian e-commerce is fast heading towards numbers around the one billion euro mark next year, and as the hasty entry of large foreign players has flooded the Croatian online shopping market, an equally significant number of interesting shifts in the domestic market have taken place.

The Orbico Group, the largest domestic distributor and the second largest company in all of Croatia after Fortenova (formerly Agrokor) has entered the world of Croatian e-commerce. Orbico's web perfumery FABUspot, launched only this year, has already reached third place according to user ratings at the Web Retailer Award 2021, the largest e-commerce competition in the entire Adriatic region, which was organised by Ceneje.si on Friday in the Slovenian capital city of Ljubljana.

Data on the operations of FABUspot are encouraging, and the Croatian Orbico Group has doubled its revenue in the last five years alone. Last year, it reached an impressive 18.2 billion kuna, which put Orbico ahead of the INA Group, making it, as mentioned, the second largest domestic company after the gigantic Fortenova.

Another big surprise was prepared by Ivica Todoric's former flagship and the enterprise that was supposed to save the entire company, the Abracadabra web store, ie A007 Plus.

Abracadabra was declared by Fina as having the highest revenue growth of all major online retailers in Croatia, of 124.3 percent, a figure of 21.6 million kuna. For comparison, the fastest growing retailer in recent years was otherwise the popular Bazzar.hr, ie the company Prati me (Follow me). But in the pandemic-dominated year, it grew by 100.7 percent. Despite this welcome title, Abracadabra isn't actually operating positively. Last year, it increased its losses to 9 million kuna, and last year, Bazzar.hr increased its net profit by ten times to 522,105 kuna with revenues of 50.6 million kuna.

The third big surprise for the rapidly growing world of Croatian e-commerce is the new record set by eKupi (eBuy), the largest domestic online store of all. Back in 2020, the company within the M SAN Group increased its revenue by 25.9 percent, to 50 million kuna, or 374.3 million kuna. In addition, it generated a net profit of 4.5 million kuna.

The company eKupi, according to the assessment of the Polish Allegro, which entered the Croatian market with the acquisition of the Mall Group (of which Mall.hr is a part), is the largest domestic player on our market. Allegro estimated it to hold 11 percent of the market. The largest online retailer in Croatia is the Chinese Alibaba Group. The owner of AliExpress holds as much as 24 percent of the share in the Croatian market.

The great interest of foreign players for the Croatian market, especially those from Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Germany, can be seen from the selection of the Web Retailer Award 2021. Many of them are already present in Croatia, however, this choice also shows that smaller Croatian players are working on the development of their own respective web stores and are achieving continuously better results.

The company Smart Trade from Sesvete near Zagreb, whose web store Namjestaj.hr (Furniture.hr) was rated the best in the entire industry, last year increased its revenue by 9.7 percent, to 147.5 million kuna, with a doubling of its net profits to 4.6 million kuna. The company DDL Zagreb, whose pet store PetHomeShop.hr was rated the best in its industry, last year recorded revenue growth of 15.8 percent, to 54.9 million kuna.

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March the 18th, 2021 - An opportunity for Croatian entrepreneurs is coming up on July the 1st this year as EU web store and e-commerce changes are on the cards.

As Suzana Varosanec/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the flourishing of the online world and e-commerce under the influence of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic is continuing to alter the habits of consumers, and thus regulates regulators to simplify procedures, which is exactly the case in the European Union (EU) where the web shop business system is set to be significantly simplified beginning on on the 1st of July.

According to auditor Dubravka Kopun, the forthcoming EU web store changes will probably contribute to greater exchange within the bloc, but they raise the question of whether the amendment of the EU VAT Directive is a real opportunity for Croatian entrepreneurs and whether they can increase their exports as a result. Namely, Croatian taxpayers will be positively affected by these upcoming EU web store changes when they deliver goods at a distance to customers or other non-taxpayers (from Croatia to the EU), who are obliged to determine whether they must calculate any VAT placed on the item from the destination EU member state in which the delivery arrives.

“Starting from July the 1st, this process will be significantly simplified through the One Stop Shop system, which means that deliveries must be subject to the VAT of the EU member state where the goods are delivered to either citizens or to other non-taxable persons, but this doesn't require registration in every EU country. An exception has been made for small entrepreneurs, who don't have deliveries exceeding 77,000 kuna (excluding VAT) on an annual basis, and in that case such entrepreneurs charge Croatian VAT regardless of where their end customers are from," explained Kopun.

All other entrepreneurs, he says, will be obliged to calculate the VAT of the EU member state to which they're delivering their goods, and for this it will be enough just to register with the Tax Administration in Croatia. The indebtedness and payment of VAT for each individual EU country will be "at the expense of the Croatian Tax Administration, which further redirects these funds (after mutual compensations) to the tax administrations of other EU member states."

"Some EU member states have announced separate applications from companies before the start of sales in individual countries, which is why it is necessary to first check whether there are special provisions related to prior notification, and provisions relating to the appearance of the output invoice issued in each member state," warned Kopun, pointing out that regulations are still being prepared, but Croatian entrepreneurs, as well as those from other member states will certainly have to register in these jurisdictions before they start selling items online.

Online shopping is a form of distance selling where goods and services are offered to potential buyers through means of remote communication, and the goods are delivered to the buyer directly by the seller or through an intermediary. Since the beginning of the restriction of business activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, interest in e-commerce has grown significantly. Figures on this topic around the world have and continue to confirm this.

“Current projections of American consumer habits for example suggest that by 2023, as many as 91 percent of the total population will be shopping online. Therefore, the opening of e-commerce during this pandemic period is certainly crucial for both the short-term and long-term strategic achievement of business goals," said Kopun.

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