Skopje, 14 May 2024 (MIA) - Last year, Macedonians spent €573.4 million abroad using their payment cards, of which 34 percent, or €195.6 million were spent online, purchasing products and services related to travel and transactions for online flight tickets and hotel reservations, shows analysis made by Macedonian e-Commerce Association (AETM) based on published data from the National Bank.

Compared to 2022, Macedonians spent 25.3 percent more on purchasing products and services from foreign e-commerce merchants with payment cards in 2023. E-transactions to foreign countries reached €4.6 million, with an average transaction amounting to €43. Notably, 72 percent of the total transaction value and 80 percent of the transaction volume were attributed to transactions made in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Hungary, Ireland, USA, Luxembourg, Greece, and Germany.

Macedonians in 2023 spent the most in the Netherlands (€27.5 million), while in Luxembourg they made the highest number of transactions (€890,000).

The majority of transactions were made to the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Hungary, totaling €77 million, which represents 39% of the total online transactions abroad. This is expected considering that Booking.com (Netherlands), Amazon UK, ASOS (United Kingdom), and WizzAir (Hungary) originate from these countries. Meanwhile, the highest number of transactions made by Macedonians in Luxembourg can be attributed to the fact that the European branches of Amazon and AliExpress are registered in Luxembourg, facilitating transactions for most European countries excluding the United Kingdom, according to AETM.

According to the National Bank's released data, foreign cardholders spent €26.8 million on purchasing goods and services from Macedonian e-retailers in 2023. This marks an increase of almost 23% compared to the previous year. Foreign online buyers made a total of 852,300 transactions, spending an average of €31.4 euros per transaction. Nearly €4 million, or 18.5% of the transaction value, were made by cardholders with cards issued in the USA, followed by €2.6 million, or 9.7% from Switzerland, and €1.7 million, or 6.2% from the United Kingdom.

Ireland saw the largest growth in both the number and value of online transactions made by foreign cardholders in 2023 compared to the previous year, while Bulgaria recorded the highest average transaction of 43 euros.

Photo: MIA archive and AETM