Most Serbian Online Buyers Still Buy Lightly. What Does That Mean For Retention?

Online Purchasing Continues To Expand In Serbia

According to the 2025 Usage of Information and Communication Technologies in the Republic of Serbia survey, published by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia and conducted using Eurostat methodology, 53.6% of internet users bought or ordered goods or services online in the previous three months.

In 2021, that figure was 42.3%. At the same time, the share of internet users who had never bought online fell from 39.0% in 2021 to 23.9% in 2025.

So the trend is clear. More people are buying online, and fewer people are outside e-commerce completely.

But there is one important methodological detail. The survey does not only measure classic webshop purchases. It asks about buying or ordering goods and services online for private purposes. That means the data can include physical goods, food delivery, transport, accommodation, tickets and other online services.

The 2024 survey, for example, explicitly includes restaurant, fast food and catering delivery, as well as food and drink from shops or ready-meal delivery providers.

This makes the frequency data even more interesting. Even with these high-frequency categories included, most online buyers are still not buying very often.

In 2025, among people who bought online in the previous three months, 50.6% bought only one or two times. Another 32.6% bought three to five times, 10.7% bought six to ten times, and only 6.1% bought more than ten times.

The Long-Term Trend Also Matters

In 2015, the picture was even more extreme: 69.5% of online shoppers bought one or two times in the previous three months, while only 4.2% bought more than ten times. Ten years later, Serbian shoppers are more active, but the basic lesson remains: most customers are still light buyers, not weekly platform users.

For e-commerce companies, this changes how retention should be designed.

If your average customer buys once or twice per quarter, aggressive weekly communication can quickly become noise. Many small and mid-sized online stores copy retention models from large marketplaces, subscription businesses or grocery platforms. But those models often assume high purchase frequency and broad product relevance. Most category-specific e-commerce businesses do not have that reality.

The practical question is different: how do you stay useful between purchases without irritating the customer?

That usually means focusing on a lighter retention model:

• clear post-purchase communication
• useful reminders based on product lifecycle
• simple reorder paths
• honest recommendations, not endless promotions
• customer support that builds trust for the next order
• content that helps customers make a better future decision

For example, a fashion store may not need to push weekly discounts to every buyer. It may need better size guidance, easier returns, seasonal reminders and more relevant product logic. A furniture or electronics seller may need an even longer-cycle retention model: warranty information, setup advice, accessories, replacement parts and support when the customer is ready for the next purchase.

The data also shows why the first purchase experience matters so much. If many buyers are light users, every bad experience has a long memory. A late delivery, unclear return policy or confusing payment step may not only lose one order. It may remove the customer from the category for months.

The core lesson is simple: retention is not always about making people buy more often. Sometimes it is about making sure that when they are ready to buy again, they come back to you.

For Serbian e-commerce, and likely for many similar European markets, the opportunity is not only in chasing heavy buyers. It is in serving light buyers properly. They are the market majority. And they are often where the next stage of growth really sits