Western European online sellers expanding into Central and Eastern Europe often underestimate how different customer expectations are in the region. According to fulfillment provider isklad, payment preferences, delivery expectations and checkout requirements differ significantly from standards in Western Europe.
Isklad is a fully automated fulfillment provider from Slovakia, based near Bratislava. It has a hub of 23,000 square meters, where it fulfills orders for over 150 online stores. Currently it reaches customers across Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Austria, Germany, Romania and other international markets.
‘Every market has other needs’
The company sees that many online sellers from Western Europe, entering Central Europe, often make this step with the wrong assumptions. “Western brands often enter the CEE market assuming that, like in their home markets, checkout will show card-first behavior. But it does not”, says Martin Mitošinka, CEO and founder of isklad.
In Greece and Romania, for example, cash-on-delivery (COD) is a very popular payment method for online orders. In those countries, over 80 percent of online stores offer COD payments. At the same time, BLIK is the most popular payment method in Poland. According to research in 2024, it has a market share of 74 percent in the country. If sellers do not have it integrated in their online store, they could miss out on conversion.
‘Offering preferred local carriers can strongly affect conversion in Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic’
There are other preferences that sellers also need to take into account. According to isklad, offering preferred local carriers can strongly affect conversion in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. And in Romania, delivery companies rely heavily on the ‘county’ field, rather than ZIP codes. Ideally, merchants should implement address verification within the checkout and address forms; otherwise, undelivered returns can increase dramatically.
Localizing comes with its own challenges
But implementing these local preferences comes with its own challenges. These are not only felt by online stores, but also by logistics partners. For example, adding cash-on-delivery (COD) can create operational complexity for providers unfamiliar with COD-heavy markets. According to isklad, which supports multi-currency COD payments in 17 countries, it often introduces a more complex returns management, cash reconciliation with carriers, and float management.
‘A slower delivery-speed can negatively impact conversion’
Another challenge for online sellers is delivery-speed expectations of customers in Central and Eastern Europe, created by online marketplaces. Allegro, which is a market leader in Poland, had 4.2 million customers in the region in 2025. This platform, as well as eMAG, has made shoppers get used to next-day or 48-hour delivery. And Czech online marketplace Alza even offers next-morning delivery to its own parcel machines (if ordered before midnight). For customers, this is a standard, not a premium service. “Shipping with 3 to 5-day delivery can negatively impact conversion rates in the very markets online stores are trying to grow”, says Mitošinka.
