Local sellers in foreign markets accounted for 48% of total turnover this year: almost 25% in Latvia and more than 22% in Estonia. Lithuanians generated the highest turnover - more than 51% - in their home market.
"Lithuanian sellers are increasingly taking advantage of e-commerce opportunities, which eliminate all physical restrictions and borders between countries, and allow them to reach foreign buyers as easily as in their home market. The Lithuanian market is the largest in the Baltic States and the Pigu.lt brand is well-known, so it is natural that this is where our sellers generate the highest turnover," says Dalia Čiutaitė-Antanaitė, Acting Head of Pigu.lt Marketplace.
According to her, sellers planning to sell abroad are currently most interested in the promising Finnish market, which is larger than the Baltic States. PHH Group Marketplace in Finland was opened in May and several thousand orders are already successfully completed.
Among the sellers on the Marketplace, Latvians have been the most active on foreign markets, with a higher turnover in Lithuania this year than at home. The turnover of Latvian sellers in Lithuania this year was 38%, in Latvia 35% and in Estonia over 26%. Foreign markets already account for 85% of all Latvian sellers who offer their goods through Marketplace.
The turnover generated by Estonian sellers on their home market accounted for almost 40% of their turnover this year, compared to almost 34% in Lithuania and more than 24% in Latvia. In the other Baltic markets, 65% of Estonian sellers sell through Marketplace.
"Today, every seller planning to start e-commerce should immediately think of the Baltic and Finnish markets as one and indivisible. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are relatively small markets, so in order to ensure business development and differentiate sales channels, it is necessary to develop activities in neighbouring countries," says D. Čiutaitė-Antanaitė.
According to her, sellers who want to start selling in neighbouring countries only need to take care of competitive prices, quality product descriptions and photos, and a well-developed infrastructure with customer service, warehousing, sorting and delivery services is provided by the Marketplace team.
The manager points out that although the countries are neighbours, the tastes and habits of shoppers are different, so retailers should be prepared to react quickly by offering what local shoppers need. "This is especially true in the Finnish market, where buyers are very familiar with the subtleties of online shopping and are very demanding of quality and promises made by sellers," concludes D. Čiutaitė-Antanaitė.
Although the Marketplace operates under different names - "Pigu.lt" in Lithuania, "220.lv" in Latvia, "Kaup24.ee" in Estonia and "Hobbyhall.fi" in Finland - sellers need only one account to trade in all 4 markets with a total population of more than 11 million.
More about the shopping opportunities on the PHH Group Marketplace here: https://phhgroup.eu/marketplace.
PHH Group - the largest e-commerce company in the Baltic States. It was formed after the merger of Pigu.lt with Finnish retail company Hobby Hall. PHH Group operates e-commerce platforms in Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. More than 4,000 sellers with a product range of more than 3 million products sell on the Group's Marketplace.