"A person who orders coffee in Kramatorsk votes for life": Iryna Chechetkina on global e-commerce, AI personalization and the phenomenon of Ukrainian retail

Global e-commerce: numbers that change perceptions

The global online commerce market is growing at a cosmic pace, and Ukraine has enormous potential for growth. Global scale: In 2025, global e-commerce reached $7 trillion (more than Japan's GDP).

One in three is online: 21% of all retail purchases worldwide are now made online. 2.7 billion people—that’s one in three people on the planet—buy online regularly.

Where is Ukraine on the world map?

The share of online sales in the overall retail structure of different countries clearly shows the vector of movement:

China is the absolute leader, where e-commerce accounts for about 37% (total digitalization).

The UK is a mature and competitive market with a 30% share of online sales.

Poland - demonstrated a jump from 14% to 18% in just 4 years.

Ukraine - currently 10% of all purchases are made online.

"This gap between our 10% and the world's 30% is our guaranteed growth zone. What matters is not how big this market is now, but where it is heading," Chechetkina emphasizes.

4 major trends that are shaping the future of e-commerce

1. Mobile commerce (M-commerce) is now a reality

In Q2 2025, 77% of online purchases were made from smartphones, not PCs or laptops. If your website or store doesn’t work perfectly on a phone screen, you’re losing three out of four potential buyers.

2. Social Commerce

Sales through social networks (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shops) are expected to reach $2.9 trillion by the end of 2026. These are no longer just advertising platforms, but full-fledged points of sale. At the same time, the format of content consumption is changing rapidly - traditional video reviews are no longer as effective as before.

3. AI-personalization

Artificial intelligence has become the standard for big players. The implementation of AI assistants that analyze previous purchases and views, generate personalized recommendations and provide dynamic pricing increases conversion by almost 20%.

4. The era of macromarketplaces vs. niche stores

Competition is shifting from price to customer experience. Large platforms are growing much faster than niche sites due to several factors:

Traffic Cost: For a niche site, customer acquisition cost (CAC) is constantly increasing. Marketplaces, on the other hand, generate millions of dollars in organic traffic.

Ecosystem convenience: The buyer doesn't want to register on dozens of different sites. He needs everything in one place: a single cart, a single payment, and clear delivery and return standards.

The power of habit: Interacting with a familiar interface forms a lasting habit of returning.

The Ukrainian phenomenon: a market that is not just recovering, but transforming

Ukrainian business is developing in conditions that are not described in any business book in the world. Since 2022, Rozetka has opened many new stores, one of which was destroyed literally half a week before the forum. However, the market is adapting:

• 11 million Ukrainians are active online shoppers.
• 61% of new businesses in Ukraine are immediately created with online sales in mind (before the full-scale invasion, this figure was 49%).
• Ukrainian e-commerce is projected to grow by 9.6% annually by 2028, despite everything.

Changing demand structure

While generators, power banks, and household appliances are among the top sellers in the country, the picture is different in frontline cities. For example, in Kramatorsk, the most popular products on Rozetka are pet food, coffee, and tea. People continue to live on.

“When we opened in Kramatorsk, local residents wrote to us: ‘Thank you for coming back, you are the first.’ Our presence is a signal to many that we believe in recovery. A person who orders coffee in Kramatorsk votes for a new life, for the future, and for your business,” shares the company’s co-founder.

Rozetka's scale in 2026:

• Together with Prom, this is almost 50% of the Ukrainian online market.
• Over 80 million visits per month.
• 27 million products on the platform.
• Over 20,000 active sellers (merchants) on the marketplace.

The chain has over 600 stores (33 new stores were opened in 2025 alone).

Business tips: how to act in conditions of uncertainty

It is impossible to prepare for complete uncertainty, it must be accepted as a basic circumstance. However, there are things that every entrepreneur can and should influence:

• Service level. The higher the quality and closer the contact with the client, the higher the conversion.
• Scaling and automation. You need to constantly invest in processes and team engagement.
• Continuous learning. The world is changing too fast. Today, it is not the biggest that wins, but the one who masters and implements new technologies faster than others.

"Logistics in Ukraine, thanks to the efforts of Nova Poshta and our own logistics solutions, has become our superpower and competitive advantage in the center of Europe. We are not just surviving - every quarter the market feels more confident. Let's not stop together and increase our efforts," Iryna Chechetkina concluded.

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