What do foreigners buy the most from Serbia online? – Most demanded items include traditional peasant footwear, fishing equipment and small home appliances

Online sales and purchase through e-stores has become a part of everyday life. In addition to local customers who buy various things from these stores worldwide, there are also local producers who now suddenly have a foreign market open for them in a whole new way. The Ministry of Trade of Serbia believes that, by 2030, as many as 85% of companies will be active in e-trade, using technological potentials for economic progress and selling goods and services in foreign markets. It is necessary for Serbia to prepare for this.

And what do consumers worldwide order from Serbia? All sorts of things, it seems. There’s traditional peasant footwear for folk ensembles, fishing equipment, bags for laptops with folk motifs and small home appliances and TVs, which are cheaper here than in other countries. Those in charge note that it is necessary to further educate the local populace when it comes to e-trade. That is why the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications formed an expert group several months ago, which is already working on an action plan for enhancing e-trade in Serbia.

The honorary president of the Serbian Association of Employers, Nebojsa Atanackovic, has talked about how to enable Serbian small companies and entrepreneurs to penetrate this market, as they are obviously competitive.

– Our entrepreneurs are often not familiar with the regulations in the markets where they are competitive. At the same time, they don’t have the kind of logistics that is available to large companies. Professional association, especially clusters, could help here, informing them which certificates are necessary and what the conditions are in the market they are interested in.

What does it look like when an enterprise enters a foreign market? Mirna Rackov, the owner of the Kikinda-based footwear workshop Maca Papucarica, knows this well. She produces traditional peasant footwear for folk ensembles worldwide. There is no e-store. Everything is done through Facebook. Orders are coming from Austria, Australia, Slovenia, Hungary and Canada.

On the other hand, the owner of Karp Sistem from Zrenjanin, Bojan Bojanic, who makes fishing equipment, will soon open an e-store in order to make the products more available to local and foreign customers.

Other products in demand include mixers, blenders, TVs and small home appliances.

Unija poslodavaca Srbije Beograd

Ministarstvo turizma i omladine Republike Srbije

Serbian Association of Employers

Maca Papucarica

Karp Sistem

Ministry of Trade Tourism and Telecommunications

Nebojsa Atanackovic

Mirna Rackov

Bojan Bojanic

e trade

electronic trade

traditional peasant footwear