Temu and SHEIN are reshaping consumer expectations, but domestic web shops continue to hold strong consumer trust.
Sarajevo, April 14, 2025. / The third national survey on the state of e-commerce in Bosnia and Herzegovina, conducted by our Association, provides the most comprehensive overview of consumer habits and online business trends to date. The results were presented today at a public event attended by representatives of institutions, companies, and the expert community.
Consumer behavior insights were presented by Prof. Dr. Almir Peštek, full professor at the Faculty of Economics, University of Sarajevo, while Orhan Gazibegović, President of our Association, introduced the findings from domestic web shops. This year’s report highlighted global factors influencing the local market—most notably the arrival of Temu and the growing popularity of SHEIN among local consumers. The analysis shows that these platforms are reshaping expectations around prices, delivery, and product range, while also sparking important discussions on product safety and service quality.
According to consumer survey results, mobile shopping dominates, with 83.4% of respondents using mobile devices for online purchases—confirming the need for further development of mobile-optimized solutions. When it comes to purchase frequency, 37.7% shop online two to three times per quarter, while there is noticeable growth in users who purchase more than ten times in the same period, pointing to the rise of “intensive users.” Cash on delivery remains the most popular payment method (46.4%), while card payments have increased to 43.1%. This reflects a duality in consumer habits during the digital transition period. Notably, 50.2% of respondents own a bank card, yet 26.2% do not use it for online shopping—highlighting the need for continued education on the safety of digital payments.
Despite ongoing challenges with logistics and product quality, there is encouraging news in the area of transaction security—only 16.3% of respondents reported issues with online payments, a figure that remains stable compared to last year. This signals growing trust in digital payment systems, particularly when secure providers and transparent payment terms are used.
Logistics remains a key pain point of the customer experience. A vast 79.8% of respondents prefer fast home delivery, yet nearly half still report issues with delivery or product quality—clearly indicating room for improvement. As for shopping destinations, 43.4% of respondents shop from domestic web shops, while 20.5% also use international platforms.
On the business side, nearly half of surveyed web shops (49.1%) use WordPress (WooCommerce) as their main platform, while 23% rely on custom-built solutions. These numbers show the market’s reliance on flexible and accessible open-source tools, but also the need for continuous education, since 6.6% of respondents are unaware of which platform they use. The biggest challenges reported by merchants are unfair competition, low profit margins, high logistics costs, and lack of qualified workforce. Only 7.24% of web shops said they are satisfied with the currently available workforce. However, there are positive signals in international sales, with 24.3% of shops already selling abroad, and 60.7% operating for more than two years—a sign of gradual market stabilization.
Additional insights show that while global platforms like Temu and SHEIN are influencing consumer expectations, over 60% of domestic web shops do not feel their direct impact, though about one-third notice shifts in customer behavior or competitive pressure.
When it comes to delivery, innovative solutions such as parcel lockers are gaining attention. Over 64% of surveyed merchants said they would use or consider using them, while nearly a quarter are still unfamiliar with the concept. Among consumers, 77.9% have not yet used parcel lockers but would like to try them, while 7.5% already use them and plan to continue. This openness among users and readiness from merchants suggests strong potential for accelerated implementation of parcel lockers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, particularly in urban areas.
The event also included a panel discussion titled “Data as a Key Resource: Optimizing E-Business through Information Analysis”, moderated by Nikolina Čule Karačić, M.Sc. oec., member of our Advisory Board. Panelists included Branislav Zimonjić (Ministry of Communications and Transport of BiH), Stefano Anselmi (Glovo BiH), Maja Šarenac (X-Express), and Adnan Škrbo (UniCredit Bank BiH). The discussion covered essential topics such as analytics, logistics, regulation, payment security, and changing consumer behavior. Participants explored how companies leverage data to optimize business, the challenges and opportunities from global entrants like Temu, the role of institutions in strengthening the digital trade framework, and how the financial sector addresses rising demands for security and digitalization.
In addition to numerous e-commerce companies, the event was attended by public sector representatives, including the Agency for Identification Documents, Registers and Data Exchange of BiH (IDDEEA), Ministry of Communications and Transport of BiH, Chamber of Commerce of the Federation of BiH, the Faculty of Economics and the Faculty of Transport and Communications, University of Sarajevo, the Postal Agency of BiH, and BH Telecom.
The key conclusion was that quality data analysis is becoming essential for strategic decision-making in e-commerce. Cooperation between the private and public sector, paired with continuous education and infrastructure investment, is crucial for sustainable growth of the digital economy in BiH. Our Association remains committed to annual research and initiatives that foster the development of domestic e-commerce and stronger connections among all stakeholders in the market.