A Comprehensive Analysis of Online Shopping Expenditure in V4 Countries

The convenience and accessibility offered by e-commerce have made it an increasingly popular method for closing business transactions. Today, e-commerce plays a key role for both retailers and consumers. Its importance is growing, in particular due to the benefits that consumers appreciate and therefore increasingly turn to this way of shopping. This study aims to assess and compare the progress of online shopping across the Visegrad Group countries, including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. It will focus on the amount of money spent on online shopping and highlight any significant changes and variations in comparison to the European Union average. The study is using data from 2015 to 2021 to draw conclusions. The theoretical framework provides essential foundations and an overview of the current state of electronic commerce. Analysis of data indicates consumer fluctuations across all online purchase categories over the period from 2015 to 2019. Czechs have paid the highest amount for online purchases in recent years, and Slovaks has paid the lowest. In 2020 and 2021, a notable upward trend was observed in both the V4 countries and the EU, primarily fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions.