eCommerce market in Bulgaria

Bulgaria is the 63rd largest market for eCommerce with a predicted revenue of US$1,233.9 million by 2024, placing it ahead of Luxembourg. Revenue is expected to show a compound annual growth rate (CAGR 2024-2028) of 13.6%, resulting in a projected market volume of US$2,054.9 million by 2028. With an expected increase of 16.9% in 2024, the Bulgarian eCommerce market contributed to the worldwide growth rate of 7.4% in 2024. Like in Bulgaria, global eCommerce sales are expected to increase over the next years. Seven markets are considered by ECDB within the Bulgarian eCommerce market. Hobby & Leisure is the largest market and accounts for 27.3% of the Bulgarian eCommerce revenue. It is followed by Electronics with 20.6%, Fashion with 16.8%, Furniture & Homeware with 12.0%, DIY with 9.1%, Care Products with 8.4%, and Grocery with the remaining 5.7%.

The online share refers to the proportion of the retail volume that is transacted via the Internet. It includes purchases via desktop PC, tablet or smartphone, both via website or app. Only retail of physical goods is taken into account. In the Bulgarian retail market, the online share is 8.0% and will increase by an average of 9.2% to 11.3% by 2028.

The biggest player in the Bulgarian eCommerce market is emag.bg. The store had a revenue of US$78.7 million in 2023. Store rankings include every store that generates revenue in Bulgaria. These stores can either have a national focus and only sell in their main country or operate on a global scale. For this evaluation, only revenue created in Bulgaria was considered.

The Bulgarian eCommerce market in 2023 in terms of offered payment methods is fragmented and highly competitive with Cash on delivery (Cash on delivery) covering the largest share with 86.7% of all online stores checked. Other offered payment methods in the Bulgarian eCommerce market in 2023 are VISA (Cards) with 70.7%, Mastercard (Cards) with 70.7%, and Bank transfer/cash in advance (Bank transfer) with 59.3%. With 58.0% Invoice (unknown) still has a considerable market share amongst the offered payment methods compared to Cash on delivery (Cash on delivery).

With 69.9% of all online retailers using Speedy the most common shipping service provider in the Bulgarian eCommerce market in 2023 closely followed by Econt, utilized by 58.9 of online retailers. Other shipping service providers, including Own delivery service, BOX NOW, and DHL, are employed by a significantly smaller proportion of online retailers.

In the Bulgarian eCommerce market, there is intense competition among various shop software solutions, leading to a highly fragmented landscape in 2023. None of the major shop software solution, including OpenCart, Magento, and WooCommerce, have been able to secure a market share exceeding 13.7%, suggesting a diversified market with numerous players holding smaller stakes.