Greece, e-commerce and logistics

Government action and increasing demand for shopping online makes Greece.

An e-commerce market with lots of potential. Here’s everything you need to know about selling and shipping to Greece.

Image of Ancient Agora of Athens in Greece

Why Greece?

With great history, culture and beaches, Greece is consistently a popular tourist destination for holidaymakers around the world. Situated in the Southeast of Europe, it borders four countries: Albania, North Macedonia, Bulgaria and Turkey.

In recent years, Greece has recovered from both financial crisis and the pandemic quite dramatically, with a 5.9% growth rate in 2022. Even more impressively, Greece’s real GDP is forecast by the European Commission to grow by 4.3% by 2024, outpacing many of its European counterparts.

This growth has largely been driven by a series of reforms implemented by the Mitsotakis administration to cut red tape, attract investment, boost innovation and entrepreneurship, and digitise government services. Greece’s debt-to-GDP ratio decreased by over 20 percentage points in 2022, one of the largest declines worldwide.1

  • 61m
    Projected number of e-commerce users by 2029
  • 65. 2 3%2
    Projected user penetration by 2029

The e-commerce landscape

E-commerce in Greece has grown considerably in recent years. The pandemic crisis accelerated the country’s much needed digital transformation, driving internet shopping to match new consumption habits.

According to The Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), total e-commerce turnover in Greece skyrocketed between 2017-2022 from $5.5 billion to $22.55 billion. Today, Greece is the 32nd largest market for e-commerce with a predicted revenue of over US$ 9 million in 2024, placing it ahead of Chile.4 4

According to ECDB, Greece’s e-commerce market is made up of seven popular markets. Hobby & Leisure is the largest market and accounts for 26.9% of the Greek e-commerce revenue. It is followed by Electronics (20.5%), Fashion (16.8%), Furniture & Homeware (11.7%), Care Products (9.5%), DIY (8.9%), and Grocery (5.6%). 5

Opportunities

As the high year-on-year increase in shopping online continues, Greek consumers are increasingly participating in cross-border online shopping. Popular overseas destinations include other European Union countries, the United States, and China.

As a result, many Greek retailers have expanded their online presence to offer international shipping. Several major e commerce platforms operate in Greece, including both local and international players. Some popular platforms include Skroutz.gr, Public.gr, shein.com and zara.com. Additionally, global giants like Amazon and eBay are also available to Greek consumers.6

Logistics

Due to nearly 80% of Greece being mountainous, logistics in this country meets many challenges. With over 6,000 island – 227 of which are inhabited – sea transport is crucial.

The main points in the Greece logistic map are Thessaloniki, Igoumenitsa, Patra, Athens, Piraeus, and Crete. These areas operate companies that provide services such as logistics and supply chains, logistics management, 3rd party logistics services, freight forwarding, packaging, warehousing, storage and distribution, corporate logistics and pallet trucks.7

You can familiarise yourself with the weights and prices of sending a package to Greece using our helpful shipping rates chart .

Keep in mind

To ensure a seamless buying experience and reliable delivery times for Greek buyers, we recommend calculating local taxes and duties up front. This involves assigning relevant HS codes to all your products and then using those to calculate the taxes and duties that need to be applied to a specific product. For more help providing a transparent shipping service to Greece, get in touch with SAMOS.

What our experts say

“Greece still has significant room to grow in its digitisation journey making it an e-commerce market with much potential”

Ben Bagnulo, CEO, SAMOS.

To find out more about how SAMOS can help you achieve fast and cost effective deliveries to Greece get in touch today

1. https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/greece-market-overview

2. https://www.statista.com/outlook/emo/ecommerce/greece

3. https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/greece-ecommerce

4. https://ecommercedb.com/markets/gr/all

5. https://ecommercedb.com/markets/gr/all

6. https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/greece-ecommerce

7. https://ecommercegermany.com/blog/european-ecommerce-overview-greece