ATHENS — The continuation of the pandemic remains one of the driving forces behind the rapid growth of e-commerce in Greece, NielsenIQ said in a survey released on Thursday.

The survey, conducted on a sample of 850 online buyers, showed that 68 pct were affected in some way by the global pandemic, either financially or in terms of health, either their own or that of their family or friends. The survey showed that 21 pct of respondents began online shopping less than a year ago and noted that e-commerce was a quiet harbour to shop around, compare prices and search for offers from the safe environment of their homes. From a demographic point of view, the pandemic crisis has expanded the clients of online shopping to older age groups (56-65) and the young (18-24). Although e-mail messages remained the most popular choice in general, 35 pct of respondents in the survey said that they preferred application notifications or social commerce. Sixty pct of online shoppers have used social commerce platforms, with the younger ages remaining the driving force. While Facebook remains the most popular platform, with 52 pct of online shoppers using Facebook, Instagram has become the top platform among younger ages (18-24), with 49 pct of respondents saying that they used this platform.

Sixty-two pct of shoppers used smartphones to make their purchases, while 48 pct said they used laptops. Forty-one pct preferred Friday, Saturday or Sunday for their shopping, while the most popular time for purchases was around 18-22.00.