Heureka.cz Group, Mall Group and also Alza.cz. Until now, some of the most famous players in e-commerce have not been able to compete with foreign competition, but this will probably change in the future. The world of online shopping is ruled by marketplaces, and their foreign operators are eager to conquer the Czech space as well.
Internet marketplaces or “marketplaces” are essentially giant e-shops where goods from many competing e-shops are offered. They are a kind of virtual department stores, where customers get used to buying almost everything in one place, without having to search and browse through many separate websites.
This year, the Kaufland company and the Allego group, owner of the Mall Group, will launch their “marketplace” on the Czech website. It plans to launch the Seznam marketplace next year, and there is also speculation about the future arrival of the global giant Amazon.
Kaufland, which launched the German marketplace Kaufland.de in 2021, offers over 40 million items from more than eight thousand merchants and the number is constantly growing. “Among them there are also many Czech businessmen who sell successfully on the German market. We are looking forward to the opening of two new Kaufland.cz and Kaufland.sk marketplaces in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which we are currently focusing on,” said Kaufland spokeswoman Renata Maierl.
This year, it will launch its Czech version on the Kaufland.cz website, which will enable Czech companies to do business in Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and vice versa for foreign companies in the Czech Republic. It will not offer food, but primarily consumer goods such as electronics, fashion, household items, etc.
The goods will be distributed from a large warehouse with an area of 25,000 square meters, which the German group has rented in Cheb.
The entry of the Allegro group, the largest Polish e-commerce platform, can cause even stronger shocks on the Czech market. In 2021, it took control of the originally Czech Mall Group and has already launched the Czech version of the marketplace on the Polish domain, and this year it is preparing a complete localization of the website on the allegro.cz domain. Allegro is one of the world’s strongest players in online business and already offers goods from 135,000 merchants on its marketplace in Europe. At the same time, the popularity of shopping in Poland among Czechs is skyrocketing.
In 2024, the company Seznam.cz, whose group also includes the publisher Seznam Zpráv, plans to launch a marketplace. “Primarily, we want to benefit from the connection with the Zboží.cz service, but from the point of view of impact on users, we see huge potential in connecting with the entire Seznam ecosystem,” said Seznam spokeswoman Aneta Kapuciánová.
Allegro and Kaufland will join the Czech markets this year.
A big question is the future entry of the world’s number one Amazon into the Czech market. The company keeps its plans secret until the last moment, but experts assume that the American company will not avoid the small Czech Republic. “Amazon is entering markets from the largest to the smallest. And in Europe, only Switzerland is ahead of us,” says Boston Consulting Group consultant David Antoš.
Amazon’s latest moves in Europe have been to Benelux, Scandinavia and Poland. The question is how eager the giant is to expand in the post-covid era, which is characterized by cooling and lower shopping appetite.
On the other hand, precisely at a time when customers are more sensitive to price and inflation in the Czech Republic is higher than in the European Union, according to Boston Consulting Group (BCG) research, there is room for market expansion. Their share in the Czech Republic is probably an order of magnitude smaller than in the world, although it is difficult to calculate.
BCG reports that the marketplace’s share of global e-commerce has increased from a quarter to a full half over the past ten years. “I would estimate that the domestic marketplaces of the companies Alza.cz, Mall.cz and Heureka.cz may have a share of around ten percent, maybe not even,” states Antoš and assumes that the Czech online market will catch up with the West.
BCG research shows that 67 percent of people believe that goods in brick-and-mortar stores are more expensive than online. And a fifth of people think that in the last six months, the prices of goods have risen faster in the shops on the street. In addition, last year the proportion of customers who shop on the Internet and who expect a wide range of products from e-shops increased significantly.
According to Antoš, these are two factors that portend major changes in the field of online shopping and give room for strong market growth. At the same time, according to him, foreign players can implement an aggressive pricing policy, because prices in Germany (in some cases) and especially in Poland are more favorable.
“The arrival of these international online marketplaces built on the Amazon principle can significantly shake up the Czech market. Our research showed that the most important factors when shopping online include the price and the breadth of the offer, with 65 percent of customers considering the price to be absolutely crucial in their decision-making,” said Antoš.
He believes that none of the Czech names is the unequivocal leader in terms of price or breadth of offer, which foreign players can benefit from. “If this happens and if the current domestic e-shops are forced to react to this situation, it can mean a lot of pressure on their margins and, for some, even a threat to profitability,” adds David Antoš.
“It is difficult to judge what effect the arrival of markets will have,” says Jan Vetyška, chairman of the Association for Electronic Commerce, comparing the situation to the entry of foreign supermarkets into the Czech market. “A parallel can be the arrival of large supermarkets. It is true that they partially destroyed small traders, but the demand for specialized goods is still there, you still want to have a convenience store on your corner,” he said.
The turnover of domestic e-commerce last year amounted to 197 billion crowns, and thus brought a certain sobriety from the shopping frenzy that was supported by covid in 2021 – when customers spent a record 223 billion crowns on the Internet. Compared to the pre-covid years, part of the people still stayed in e-shops, and physical and digital shopping is more combined.
