The pre-Christmas period, as usual, saw an increased interest in online shopping services, and last year was no exception. Moreover, after two years, Czech e-shops experienced year-on-year growth in revenue.
In total, the amount reached 194 billion CZK, which is 5% more than in 2023. Overall, Czechs spent 228 billion CZK online last year, with 34 billion going to foreign online marketplaces.
Despite this, the number of domestic online stores slightly decreased. This decline can partly be explained by the fact that the biggest boom occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic when many brick-and-mortar stores had limited operations. As a result, there was naturally a higher interest in online shopping, which subsided somewhat after the lifting of all anti-COVID measures. Since 2022, the number of e-shops in the Czech Republic has been decreasing.
Last year, the decline was minor—just 200 fewer stores, bringing the total to 49,700. However, this does not mean that Czech online shops, especially smaller ones, have no reason for concern.
Quite the Opposite
Due to attractive prices on large Asian online marketplaces, which are becoming widely used in the Czech Republic, we can expect that Czech e-shops may soon face significant challenges. Popular Asian, particularly Chinese, online marketplaces such as Temu, Shein, and AliExpress pose a serious threat to Czech e-shops.
They offer extremely cheap products, and low prices are an enormous attraction not only for Czech customers. The Temu shopping app alone has approximately 92 million users in the EU. In a recent article, I primarily discussed toys, but this issue affects many other product categories as well.
Lack of Clear Rules
The Czech Trade Inspection Authority has recently received numerous complaints from domestic e-shops about Chinese online marketplaces failing to comply with legal obligations and misleading customers.
The concerns of Czech and, more broadly, European online retailers are understandable. There is no doubt that massive Chinese online marketplaces threaten domestic and European economies as a whole. Without clear and universally applicable regulations, not only Czech but all European businesses may soon struggle to compete. There is a real danger that a few enormous Chinese e-shops will dominate European retail.
Small and Medium Businesses at Risk
In the Czech Republic, small and medium-sized businesses are the most vulnerable, as they cannot compete with the dumping prices enabled by massive subsidies from the Chinese government.
Additionally, thanks to state support, these enormous Asian online marketplaces can offer free or suspiciously cheap shipping from China to the Czech Republic. Besides government subsidies, another factor contributing to the low prices is the exploitation of the 150-euro threshold, below which customs duties are not charged.
Customs, Taxes, Fees…
Chinese sellers are also likely evading taxes and various mandatory fees, such as recycling fees, which significantly reduces the competitiveness of Czech businesses.
Experts estimate that two-thirds of shipments from China are incorrectly declared, costing the EU approximately 50 billion euros annually. This is mainly due to the 150-euro customs exemption, which platforms like Temu exploit by splitting large orders into multiple smaller packages to avoid duties. Meanwhile, European suppliers must pay customs duties, VAT, and comply with strict data protection regulations.
Customs offices are also overwhelmed by the sheer volume of shipments. The EU plans to implement stricter tracking of goods starting in 2028, but experts warn that this timeline is too late given current trends.
The existing regulations fail to curb unfair competition from abroad and instead severely disadvantage domestic retailers.
Stolen Customer Data
The practices of Chinese online marketplaces rightfully
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