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Central Europe
August 17, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 13
Hungary's Extreme Digital retains title of biggest online retailer
bne IntelliNews
Extreme Digital was ranked HungaryÕs biggest online retailer last year for the fourth straight year, according to an annual ranking by market research firm GKI Digital on August 16.
Online sales in Hungary have grown robustly in the last few years, multi-fold that of retail sales. While retail commerce as a whole expanded by 6% last year, the online market saw growth of 18%, meaning that online sales now account for 4.3% of total retail commerce in Hungary.
The top ten online retail companies reported com- bined sales of HUF135bn (Û416.8mn) last year, up 26% y/y and 37% of the total.
Extreme Digital was founded in 2001 by two Hun- garian businessmen. Over the years it has grown to become the country's leading online retailer. At present, it has 16 stores in Hungary and is present in eight countries.
The company believes the balance between online and offline presence. Brick and mortar stores ac-
counted for 50% of the revenues, which reached HUF35bn in 2017. South Africa's Steinhoff Inter- national bought a majority stake in the company in 2015, but in April, the founders reacquired a 50.4% stake in the company from Steinhoff after it was hit by accounting scandal.
After the acquisition, the owners of Extreme Digi- tal did not rule out finding a new strategic investor in the future to help international expansion.
Number two on the list was Romanian-based eMAG, followed by German electronics retailer Media Markt. UK retailer Tesco moved up one spot to 4th.
The gap between number four and number ten on the list was multiple-fold in terms of revenue, the market researcher said.
GKI Digital highlighted the entry of Czech-owned Alza, which burst into the Hungarian digital mar- ket in a matter of months. It was ranked 8th on the list.