Payments and e-commerce in Bulgaria

Discover how Bulgarians like to shop and pay online

Bulgaria

General Information

  • Population 6.9 m
  • Population 15 + 5.9 m
  • Online population 4.7 m
  • Area 110,994 km2
  • Currency BGN
  • GDP 77.9 bn $US
  • GDP per capita 11,295 $US
  • Card-based payments
  • Cash-based payments
  • Bank transfer
  • Wallets
  • Other
[{"label":"Card-based payments","value":"15"},{"label":"Cash-based payments","value":"67"},{"label":"Bank transfer","value":"1"},{"label":"Wallets","value":"15"},{"label":"Other","value":"2"}]
Banked population
  • Bulgaria 77%
  • Eastern Europe & the CIS 72%
  • World 67%
Credit card penetration
  • Bulgaria 16%
  • Eastern Europe & the CIS 22%
  • World 19%
Internet penetration
  • Bulgaria 68%
  • Eastern Europe & the CIS 76%
  • World 62%
Smartphone penetration
  • Bulgaria 63%
  • Eastern Europe & the CIS 62%
  • World 70%

Bulgarians are turning to contactless payment methods in greater numbers, a survey by Paysafe found. 45% of Bulgarians shop using a debit card and 24% prefer a digital wallet. Cash is still being used, 52% said that they use cash less now than before the Pandemic.

olx.bg was the most popular e-commerce store in Bulgaria in July 2022, followed by bazar.bg.

The Bulgarian government are contemplating introducing a government backed cryptocurrency payment initiative.

Future e-commerce trends (2021-2026)

B2C e-commerce ($US billion)
2022 1.6
2023 1.9
2024 2.3
2025 2.6
2026 3.0
E-commerce spending per capita ($US)
2022 235
2023 287
2024 341
2025 396
2026 452
E-commerce spending as % of GDP
2022 2.1%
2023 2.4%
2024 2.6%
2025 2.9%
2026 3.1%

Bulgaria

The E-Commerce Market

Top e-commerce segments

  1. Fashion: 34%
  2. Electronics & Media: 30%
  3. Toys, Hobby & DIY: 15%
  4. Furniture & Appliances: 13%
  5. Food & Personal Care: 8%

Cross-border e-commerce

  1. Cross-border proportion of total e-commerce – 15%
  2. Value of cross-border e-commerce – 0.2 bn $US
  3. Online shoppers who have shopped cross-border – 36%

Top 3 cross-border shopping origin markets

  1. Germany
  2. China
  3. Russia
B2C e-commerce growth 20->21
  • Bulgaria 17.6%
E-commerce % of total retail
  • Bulgaria 7%
  • Eastern Europe & the CIS 12%
  • World 20%
E-commerce completed on a mobile device
  • Bulgaria 42%
  • Eastern Europe & the CIS 39%
  • World 53%

The Credit Card Split

  • Visa
  • Mastercard
  • Local Schemes
[{"label":"Visa","value":"41"},{"label":"Mastercard","value":"56"},{"label":"Local Schemes","value":"3"}]
  • E-commerce market size 1.3 bn $US
  • E-commerce spending per capita 189 $US
  • E-commerce spending as % of GDP 1.8%

The information on our Insights pages has been compiled by us in cooperation with Datamatics and Wright & Brown. The data shown is partially owned by us and partially owned by GlobalData. © 2021 by PPRO Financial Ltd. No data and information can be used for any further publication without the explicit approval of PPRO.

Bulgaria

Local Payment Methods

BitPay Type Cryptocurrency Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Hyperwallet Type Bank transfer, Gift card, Prepaid voucher Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High PayPal Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High Paysafecard Type Prepaid voucher Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Paysera Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High SEPA Direct Debit Type Bank transfer Regions Eastern Europe & the CIS, Western & Central Europe Market relevance High Skrill Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High Trustly Type Bank transfer Regions Eastern Europe & the CIS, North America + 1 Market relevance High TrustPay Type Bank transfer Regions Eastern Europe & the CIS, Western & Central Europe Allied Wallet Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High UnionPay SecurePay Type Local payment card Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High Apple Pay Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High DaoPay Type Carrier billing Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High Google Pay Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High Mobiamo Type Carrier billing Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High Razer Gold Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High SEPA Credit Transfer Type Bank transfer Regions Eastern Europe & the CIS, Western & Central Europe Market relevance High SWIFT Type Bank transfer Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High GoPay Type Wallet Regions Eastern Europe & the CIS, Western & Central Europe Market relevance Medium Secure Remote Commerce (SRC) Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance Medium SEPA Instant Credit Transfers (SCT Inst) Type Bank transfer Regions Eastern Europe & the CIS, Western & Central Europe Market relevance Medium Boloro Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 EasyPay Type Wallet Regions Eastern Europe & the CIS ePay.bg Type Wallet Regions Eastern Europe & the CIS G2A Pay Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance Medium NETELLER Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Splitit Type Instalments Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3

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