Albanian consumers prefer to buy goods and products by physically appearing in commercial units, unlike other European countries that increasingly use the Internet to order. 

In fact, the entire Balkans use the internet less to shop, according to a recent Euostat map, with less than 38% ordering products online. In 2019, the latest data available for Albania, only 7% of Albanian consumers used the Internet to order goods or services, up from 5% the previous year. 

This figure is much lower even than the neighbors. Northern Macedonia had this figure 29% in 2019 and 34% in 2020, Serbia 34 and 38% respectively, Bosnia 23 and 28%, Montenegro 16% and 23%. The record is held by Kosovo, with 38% in 2019 and 46% in 2020. Kosovo even has higher internet usage for private purchases than Italy, Greece, Portugal. 

However, the regional average is much lower than in other European Union countries. According to Eurostat, in 2020, about 65% of all adults (aged 16-74) in the EU bought / ordered goods or services online during the 12 months prior to the survey. Young people aged 25-34 were 2.5 times more likely to have used the internet to make purchases (83%) than people aged 65-74 (33%). 

Online shopping has become more common in the EU as internet use is prevalent at all ages. Consumers appreciate access to a wide range of products anytime, anywhere, with the added benefit of special prices. Events like Black Friday, as well as online Monday, are some of the times when online shopping takes precedence over the calendar. 

The Danish capital region of Hovedstaden recorded the highest tendency to use e-commerce (91%) in all EU regions, followed by the Danish region of Midtjylland and the Dutch region of Utrecht, both 90%. 

In contrast, four regions in Bulgaria had the lowest share in 2020: Severen tsentralen (25%), Yuzhen tsentralen and Yugoiztochen (both 26%) and Severozapaden (27%).

(Source: Monitor)