Greece
Covid-19 Forced Greece Towards Contactless Payments
Population
Greece had an estimated population of 10,423,054 as of the middle of 2020, according to UN data. Based on Worldometer elaboration of the latest UN data, Greece had a population of 10,390,128 as of February 22, 2021, with 84.9% living in urban areas, mainly Athens. The median age of the population is 45.6 years. Greece had approximately 8.39 million active internet users as of January 2021, according to Data Reportal.
E-commerce
The high internet, banking, and smartphone penetration rate means Greece faces fewer challenges to establish an e-commerce market. The average annual revenue per paying user in Greece amounted to $1,453 in 2020, according to the PPRO Report. Most cross-border e-commerce purchases by Greek shoppers are of products from China, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Payment preferences
In 2020, most Greek shoppers prefer to pay with cards, followed by cash, bank transfers, and other payment methods. For cashless payments, the three big players are Visa, American Express, and Mastercard.
Economy
According to IMF data, Greece had a gross domestic product of $209.88 billion in 2019, which declined to $194.38 billion in 2020 due to the pandemic. As the economy continues to recover, Greece's GDP is expected to expand to about $219.01 billion in 2021.
Internet & mobile phone trends
According to Statista, the 60% majority of internet users in the country were aged above 15 years old as of 2018. According to Datareportal, there were 8.39 million internet users in January 2021, which had increased by about 86 thousand (+1.0%) from 2020, with an internet penetration rate of 80.7% in January 2021. Meanwhile, 66% of the population had smartphones in 2020.
Banking
According to the PPRO Report, 85% of the Greeks had bank accounts in 2020, but only 12% of them were credit card holders.