Page 28 - bneMag Dec22

28 I Companies & Markets bne December 2022
Slowdown after COVID-19 e-commerce boom
The Western Balkans, like other parts of Europe, are seeing a slowdown in the e-commerce sector following the boom during the peak of the pandemic.
“During the pandemic, online sales recorded their highest growth, so after the return to normality, the slowdown of online sales compared to the 'COVID-19 times' was expected,” said Angelovska, who is also president of the Macedonian E-commerce Association.
“We are also focused on our existing and future partners with whom we strive to establish successful long- term collaboration and help them to achieve further growth of their products and businesses”
However, she said it is important to emphasise that during the pandemic people were educated, acquired the habit of online shopping and were reassured about its safety.
As in any other businesses, constant innovation and improvement are necessary for maintaining continuous sales growth, she added.
“Our focus is always on customer satisfaction,” Angelovska said, underlining that Ananas wants to make customers’ shopping experience “a real pleasure”.
Future focus
Angelovska said Ananas’ main focus in the next period is to establish a stable and secure platform with a wide range of products and various delivery methods as well as safe payment methods.
In Serbia, Ananas has already established several ways of delivering packages – via Ananas package zones at petrol stations, at places such as nearby cafes or exchange offices.
“In addition to the wide range of offers from which they can choose, as well as the payment method that suits them best, we also offer a choice in the method of delivery for buyers according to their preferences,” she said.
“I believe that we will apply these examples of good practice to the market in [North] Macedonia, so that buyers will get the shopping experience we know in developed markets and thus we will orient them even more towards online shopping,” Angelovska added.
“We are also focused on our existing and future partners with whom we strive to establish successful long-term
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collaboration and help them to achieve further growth of their products and businesses.
“If we keep in mind that we are introducing and building something that does not exist in these regions, the roadmap of new functionalities and innovations ranges from improvements and new functionalities of the platform, to
a mobile application, programmes with gamification and various initiatives,” Angelovska said.
Seasonal purchases
According to Angelovska, Ananas strives to provide good offers and competitive prices with the aim of attracting and retaining customers. The company also responds to changes in demand depending on the time of year. Thus, for Ananas, the end of August in Serbia was when parents bought what their children needed for the beginning of the school year.
"In November we assume that home appliances will be purchased mostly, considering the discounts on the occasion of the Black Friday campaign," she said,
Grouper, meanwhile, is more oriented towards service offerings.
“Grouper always offers buyers attractive deals with discounts for visiting and discovering new places. The most attractive category for buyers is travel, followed by beauty and relax, health check-ups and other services,” Angelovska said.
At the end of May, the Macedonian E-Commerce Association said citing central bank data that people from North Macedonia spent €420.7mn in 14.2mn online transactions in 2021 at home and abroad.
Of this amount, €318.mn were spent on transactions in domestic e-shops, which is 75.8% of the total value of online transactions.
Ananas' international business development manager Nina Angelovska says the company has an ambitious regional development agenda. / Ananas