According to data on bank card payments, this year online commerce lost ground to store traffic. Meanwhile, according to the forecasts of BiztosDöntés.hu experts, IV. In the fourth quarter, spending on the online bank card exceeded the dreamed maximum of 1,000 billion Hungarian forints.
Peter Gergely, a financial expert at BiztosDöntés.hu, said that the dynamic growth of online retail trade slowed down significantly in 2023. He noted that due to inflation, this decline occurred in the entire retail business, however, the small growth rate was especially striking. In the field of the Internet.
This year, in the first half of the year, online retail in Hungary produced an increase of only 8 percent, compared to the data of previous years. It represents a significant reduction in real value.
The expert also said that in the second quarter, local financial institutions recorded 456,000 fewer bank card payments than in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, the third quarter brought better data as inflation moderated, real wages emerged, consumption slowly rebounded, and the number of online purchases reached a historic high of 47.1 million. However, compared to 45.7 million online bank card payments in the second quarter, the increase was only 3.2 percent, while the number of bank card purchase transactions in the third quarter grew faster by 4.5 percent, the expert said in a statement.
The end of the year may hold some surprises
Despite the poor results, according to Peter Gergely, “there is no need to bury the performance of online stores”, as experience shows that there can be examples of above-average spending at the end of the year – thanks to last-minute bulk purchases and holiday preparations. And buy gifts.
If last year's rates are achieved in the last three months of 2023, for the first time in history, the amount spent on the Internet using bank cards will jump to more than 1,000 billion Hungarian forints, and the total annual spending on a bank card via the web could exceed 3,500 billion. Hungarian forint
– said the expert.
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