ATHENS – Out of necessity and then habit during the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, Greeks turned more and more to electronic shopping online with delivery and racked up 14 billion euros ($15.82 billion) in spending.

That was the finding of a survey by ELTRUN and the Association of Business and Retail Sales of Greece (HRBA) that was done in December, 2021 and used a sample of 859 internet users and covered both products and services.

The turnover seen is a record for the e-commerce market, at least 15,000 Greek enterprises having their own channel of digital sales and several e-shops recording annual sales of more than 10 million euros ($11.3 million) said Kathimerini.

The survey showed that 50 percent of internet users made purchases online in the last 15 days of the year – the same as in June  -while at least one in three online consumers said online buys were more than 20 percent of their overall purchases.

The survey showed that hotels/tickets accounted for the biggest percentage of online purchases (45 percent) followed by electrical appliances/electronics with 34 percent, clothing with 20 percent, toys/cosmetics with 17 percent, personal care products and furniture at 13 percent.

There are also dangers in buying online though because of bogus sites that attach themselves to legitimate comparison sites and take people’s money without delivering any goods, with some using cash on delivery instead of online payments now instead for shopping.