21 best platforms for expansion in CEE countries

Do you want to increase your profits from online sales? Advertise on product comparison sites and marketplaces. It will make your goods and online store more visible so that shoppers reach for them before the competition. Which sales channel to choose? What are their advantages and disadvantages? And how to start selling? We bring you a great comparison of the most famous advertising platforms in the CEE region, which you must try this year.

Where to sell goods online in 2024

1. Marketplaces

2. Comparison engines

3. Specialized search engines

4. How to choose the right channel

5. How to edit a feed

MARKETPLACES

Marketplaces are a recent trend for online sellers across Europe, allowing them to offer their products through a single website. They are also a way to be present in a traditional e‑commerce environment without having an online store. Amazon, eBay, Alibaba, and Etsy are all marketplaces that you surely know. But there are also European alternatives. They are called Allegro or Kaufland.

Think of a marketplace as a large shopping mall. For it provides you with space to sell your goods, you pay a commission on each item you have sold here. You don’t have to laboriously search for customers because many people know the marketplace and buy from it. You manage pricing, packaging, shipping, and any complaints.

1.  Kaufland

DE: 32,000,000 visits/​​month, 11,000 sellers
where: Germany, Slovakia, Czech Republic

Kaufland is one of the fastest-growing online marketplaces in Germany, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. You can benefit from high traffic and a relatively small number of sellers. Another great advantage is that you only need one registration for all three markets.

In addition to the standard sales commission, expect a monthly rate of €38. The price includes the option to upload an unlimited number of products, multi-channel marketing, product translation, or customer service in your language. You can also add a link to your online store to your products for an additional fee.

2. MALL

all: approximately 15,000,000 visits/​​month, 4,500+ sellers
where: Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Slovakia

Becoming part of the Allegro group, the MALL grows steadily and offers sellers good conditions.

MALL charges monthly fees according to the type of connection (€12 for manual product deposit and €39 for API/XML feed). You will pay €0.36 + margin from sales according to the given category for each order placed. In return, MALL takes care of paid promotion of your products (including Black Friday campaigns) or helps return goods.

3. Allegro

all: 200,000,000+ visits/​​month, 150,000+ sellers
where: Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Czech Republic

Allegro is nicknamed the Polish Amazon. And no wonder. It is the largest online shopping platform and even the second most visited site in Poland (more than YouTube). This marketplace boasts a wide range of products and easy access to the Polish market, where you can reach up to 20 million potential customers.

Allegro has no mandatory monthly fees. However, to be seen, count on some investment. Allegro offers so-called paid subscriptions for €10, €40, and €600, which open the door to analytics or adding your logo to offers.

4. eMAG

80,000,000+ visits/​​month, 56,000 sellers
where: Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania

Do you need to get your goods to the Romanian, Bulgarian, or Hungarian markets? eMag is the largest marketplace in this area. A respectable 84 million customers visit it every month.

Selling on eMAG will only cost you the sales commission. But also expect some expenses for paid promotion so that customers can find your goods among all 12,000,000 products. Free product translations are a bonus.

5. AlzaTrade

15,000,000+ visits/​​month, 1,000 sellers 
where: Czech Republic

Alza opened to external sellers as AlzaTrade in 2021. It is a great business opportunity because of its high traffic on the one hand but still a small number of sellers on the other hand. You can use it without fees and only pay a commission for the goods you sell.

It is good to know that AlzaTrade offers a slightly different model than usual marketplaces. Goods are not sold to customers by individual sellers but by Alza. Customers thus conclude a contract directly with Alza. The channel is responsible for the complete sales and after-sales process, including complaints, shipping, and the services provision. In relation to Alza, individual sellers are then in the position of suppliers. It is the so-called dropshipment model.

COMPARISON ENGINES

Comparison engines allow users to compare prices and parameters of different products from different sellers. Comparison engines usually do not provide the possibility of a direct product purchase, thus they primarily differ from marketplaces. After clicking on the product, the customer is redirected to your online store. Therefore, it is a must to own an online store here. A great advantage of comparison engines is the possibility of collecting reviews, which will help your store gain credibility.

Comparison engines sort products into product cards. Each card represents a given product (e. g. iPhone X 64 GB space gray) and offers a price comparison of individual stores. It is where the battle for the best (highest) position between stores takes place.

Comparison engines also differ from marketplaces in other types of fees. Since the purchase does not take place on the comparison engines, online stores do not pay a commission for the sale made but for the click-through (CPC), i. e. for each click on their offer.

6. Google Shopping

where: the whole world (except Crimea, Cuba, Donetsk and Luhansk regions, North Korea, Iraq and Syria)

Google Shopping is one of the largest product comparison sites in the world. Google Shopping campaigns are one of the types of Google Ads. They are often a significant source of conversions and a good indicator of whether it makes sense to advertise on other platforms.

You can upload your products to Google Merchant Center for free. You only pay if you decide to go for ads.

Comparison engines and marketplaces are the easiest ways to reach customers abroad. You can use the local customer base in several European countries. You can start, for example, Polish ceneo.pl. Foreign “alternatives” of the Czech Heureka are also popular. In Croatia, it is jeftinije.hr, followed by Slovenia’s ceneje.si, Hungary’s árukereső.hu, Romania’s compari.ro, Bulgaria’s pazaruvaj.com and Serbia’s idealno.rs. These are comparison engines with the option of direct purchase. You can easily create feeds for these platforms in Mergado. It knows the formats and requirements of each of them.

7. Heureka

where: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Heureka is the most used product search engine in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It also functions as a marketplace within the Heureka marketplace. To be able to sell on Heureka, you have to obtain the Verified by Customers certification, have a long-term top rating, and be in PPC mode.

The basic version of Heureka is free. So, being in PPC mode is almost a must. Only then will you appear in the product tab and gain access to several other functions, such as the possibility of bidding, generating reports, and being part of the marketplace.

8. Zboží.cz 

2,100,000 visits/​​month, 21,000 advertisers
where: Czech Republic

Zboží.cz is the second most popular comparison engine in the Czech Republic. It was founded in 2007 by the Seznam.cz search engine. The success of Zboží.cz is linked to how Seznam is currently doing.

Unlike Heureka, you can only advertise in paid mode here. However, you only pay for a click-through to your online store. You do not need to own any trust certificate to bid, as at Heureka.

9. Srovname.cz

approximately 100,000 visits/​​month, 10,000 advertisers 
where: Czech Republic

Srovname.cz has lower traffic than its bigger competitors. Even so, it is the third most popular in the Czech Republic.

With new management and an emphasis on artificial intelligence, this comparison engine has significantly increased sales year-on-year. Srovname.cz also belongs to the channels that handle paid advertising for you.

10. Pricemania

approximately 100,000 visits/​month, n/​a advertisers
where: Czech Republic, Slovakia

Although you can find the Pricemania comparison tool in the Czech Republic, it is more successful in Slovakia, where it ranks third among all grocers. It offers three programs for online stores, depending on the number of functions and price per click.

11. NajNákup.sk 

approximately 300,000 visits/​​month, 10,000+ advertisers
where: Slovakia

To expand to Slovakia, consider the comparison tool Najnakup.sk. After Heureka, it is the second most used portal on the local market. In addition to the free version, it offers three more advanced programs.

12. Ceneo.pl 

50,000,000 visits/​​month, 26,000+ advertisers
where: Poland

A smaller but significant competitor of the Polish Allegro. Ceneo has been on the market for 18 years and is the most visited comparison among Poles.

13. Jeftinije.hr 

approximately 1,500,000 visits/​​month, 3,000 advertisers
where: Croatia

Jeftinije.hr is the largest comparison engine in Croatia. It boasts a reach of 76% of all online Croatian shoppers. The first step to start advertising is to fill out this questionnaire, after which local business managers will guide you through the entire process.

14. Ceneje.si 

1,500,000 visits/​​month, 3,000 advertisers
where: Slovenia

The ceneje.si comparison tool is a great way to expand into Slovenia. You can create a higher turnover for your online store by operating in Slovenia. Just fill out the entry questionnaire, and your Slovenian expansion can begin. It is best to send the feed in the local language. In any case, Ceneje.si will also approve a Croatian feed.

15. Árukereső.hu

14,000,000 visits/​​month, 4,100+ advertisers
where: Hungary

Among Hungarians, árukereső.hu is the number one shopping platform in terms of traffic and popularity. Running an account is free, but we recommend going the PPC route. Also, consider joining the Trusted Shop program. Getting good customer reviews will get you an award and a logo that supports your store’s credibility.

To advertise on this popular Hungarian comparison site, you must have a feed, currency, and online store translated into Hungarian.

16. Compari.ro 

4,000,000 visits/​​month, 15,000 advertisers
where: Romania

Year by year, more and more people shop online in Romania. If you want to target the local market, we recommend the comparison tool compari.ro. You advertise for free in limited mode, but we recommend operating in PPC mode. Also, consider joining the Trusted Shop program.

17. Pazaruvaj.com 

2,000,000 visits/​​month, 4,500 advertisers
where: Bulgaria

The most popular comparison site in Bulgaria is pazaruvaj.com. Almost a third of the population visits it. We recommend advertising in paid mode and joining the free Right Shop program.

18. Idealno.rs

300,000 visitors per month /​month, 300 advertisers
where: Serbia

The Serbian Idealno, like Jeftinije and Ceneje, offers the option to display the international CERTIFIED SHOP certificate. It is a paid service that allows you to get a certified shop badge and thus strengthen the credibility of your brand.

SPECIALIZED SEARCH ENGINES

Specialized search engines function only as a catalog and do not combine products. We do not speak of them as comparison engines but as search engines. So if we are looking for a wardrobe, for example, we will not find product cards like on search engines of this type, but only a lot of individual offers.

The principle of cost per click does not change here. You pay search engines for each customer who clicks on your offer.

19. Biano 

All: approx. 3,000,000 visits/​month, n/​a
where: Hungary, Netherlands, Romania, Brazil, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Czech Republic, Slovakia

Biano ranks among specialized product search engines that focus on furniture and decoration.

Its specific is that it does not compare products. On the contrary – if you have the same product as a competitor, it shows only one product with the highest score.

20. FAVI

all: 13,000,000 visits/​​month, 1,600 advertisers
where: Poland, Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, Italy, Great Britain, Czech Republic, Slovakia

Like Biano, FAVI is an online catalog of furniture and household items. It operates in 9 countries and contains around 5 million products.

TIP: You have to set bidding on FAVI through its interface and not automatically through the XML feed.

21. GLAMI 

all: 40,000,000 visits/​​month, 3,200 advertisers
where: Germany, Poland, Hungary, France, Romania, Slovenia, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Croatia, Spain, Brazil, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Italy, Czech Republic, Slovakia

GLAMI is the right search engine for sellers who specialize in fashion. It is one of Europe’s biggest fashion, clothing, and accessories comparison sites. GLAMI combines the elements of a product search engine and a social network. It allows customers to view products, create collections, and share and comment.

How to choose the right sales channel

Have you read this far and still don’t know which sales channel or country is right for you? It is a very individual question that you have to answer for yourself. However, we have one tip for you. Go for markets with a high growth potential and a few competitors. You will have a much better chance of breaking through with your products. Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovenia offer such a market environment.

If you still want to target markets such as Germany, Austria, or the Czech Republic, which are characterized by a significant maturity of the online environment and many potential buyers, focus on unique goods with high added value.

How to edit the feed for individual marketplaces and comparison engines

Each of the sales platforms requires a different form of product feed. For your products to be successfully listed in a given seller or marketplace, you need to supply them with a feed that meets the requirements of the given channel –⁠ its content is correct and as up-to-date as possible. In this case, tools with which you can modify the feed in bulk come into play. One of them is Mergado. This automated feed editor knows the specifications of more than 1000 sales platforms, so you don’t have to worry about the correctness of your data. Mergado can help you pick the categories into which the products should be placed, convert the feed formats, and send the finished ones directly to the given platforms. It’s free for the first 30 days.

Do you already know where to start selling your products? Whether you decide to use a comparison engine or a marketplace, studying the requirements of the given sales platform and preparing a quality feed is the first step to start with. It’s simple. The better the feed, the more correct the listing. Thus more customers click on your product.