Page 84 - SE Outlook Regions 2024

Looking ahead, Italian on-the-go coffee chain 12oz plans to enter Albania and other countries in Southeast Europe, with the opening of 50 stores planned in the region by 2028.
The online retail sector is relatively small compared to other European countries, but is growing. 34.7% of Albania’s population aged between 16 and 74 years old said they had made an online purchase in the previous 12 months when surveyed by Instat in 2022. This represented a sharp increase in the share of the population making online purchases, up by 13.3 percentage points compared to the previous year, and the growth is expected to continue into 2023 and 2024.
The highest increase for 2022 was for online purchases of cosmetic, beauty or wellness products, which shot up by 18.9 pp y/y.
However, purchases of clothing, shoes and accessories still accounted for the largest share of online purchases, with 90.8% of Albanians who made an online purchase in 2022 buying something in that category.
5.1.2 Banks
The profit of Albania's banking sector rose in 2023, with most banks
reporting an increase in profit in the first three quarters of the year.
Profits stood at ALL22.0bn (€215mn) for the first three quarters and ALL7.5bn for Q3, according to data from the Albanian Association of Banks (AAB).
Deposits in Albanian banks also grew, reaching ALL1.6bn at the end of September, up from ALL1.6bn a year earlier.
Banking sector assets rose to ALL1.9bn at the end of September, an increase from the ALL1.9bn reported a year earlier.
84 SE Outlook 2024 www.intellinews.com