e-commerce sites on Cyprus

Why do businesses in Cyprus need their own e-commerce site?

Cyprus is a small market (1.2M population), but active exports to EU/UK/RU/CIS make e-commerce an interesting channel. For local businesses, an online store is a way to collect leads 24/7, outcompete Google, and reach marketplaces like Wolt/Glovo/Bazaraki. For exporters, it's the primary sales channel, without intermediaries or retail markups.

Which platform to choose in Cyprus

• Tilda — for small stores with up to 100 SKUs. Fast, affordable, limited
• WooCommerce + WordPress — for mid-sized businesses with 100-10,000 SKUs. Flexible, plugins, relatively inexpensive to maintain
• Shopify — for international trade, convenience, everything out of the box. More expensive than a subscription
• Magento (Adobe Commerce) — for large catalogs with 50k+ SKUs, B2B functionality
• RecCMS — custom processes, multilingual support, non-standard scenarios. Default for most tasks
• Custom on Laravel/Next.js — for marketplaces and unique logic

How much does an e-commerce website in Cyprus cost?

• Start: €1490-2490 (up to 100 SKU, basic platform, 1-2 payments)
• store: €2990-5990 (up to 5000 SKU, 1C, loyalty, marketplaces)
• Enterprise: €9990-19900 (Magento, B2B, headless, SLA)
• Marketplace: €19900+ (multiple sellers, split payments, KYC)

Payments in Cyprus for e-commerce

Standard package:

• Stripe — main for international cards. 1.5% + €0.25 for EU
• JCC Smart — Cypriot equilising. Best commissions for BoC/Hellenic cards
• Revolut Business — favourable commissions, multi-currency
• PayPal — for UK/US audience
• Apple Pay / Google Pay — mandatory on mobile, +20-30% conversion rate increase
• Ykassa, Tinkoff Pay — for Russian-speaking audience
• Klarna / Afterpay — buy now pay later for EU
• Crypto (Cryptomus, Coinbase Commerce) — a growing trend for specific niches

For most stores, Stripe + JCC + Apple Pay cover 95% of needs.

Delivery in Cyprus and abroad

• Akis Express — main Cypriot courier. Delivery across the island in 1-2 days
• ACS Cyprus — alternative to Akis, slightly cheaper for large-sized ones
• Cyprus Post - Email, for letters and small packages. Affordable international shipping
• DHL, FedEx, UPS — for urgent international and B2B projects
• Wolt couriers — for quick local delivery (HoReCa, retail)
• SDEC, BoxBerry — for shipping to CIS countries

Taxes and VAT for a store in Cyprus

• Standard VAT rate - 19%
• For food (including non-alcoholic beverages) - 9%
• For medical supplies, newspapers, books, magazines — 5%
• VAT registration is mandatory for turnover exceeding €15,600/year.
• OSS (One Stop Shop) - simplified registration for sales in other EU countries
• Reverse charge for B2B - the client pays VAT themselves

E-commerce marketplaces for Cyprus

• Bazaraki — Cyprus's leading classifieds platform for retail
• Wildberries — for export to CIS. Growing channel for cosmetics, fashion
• Ozon — alternative to Wildberries
• Amazon EU — for international trade
• eBay — for UK/US audience
• Etsy — for handmade, vintage
• Avito — Russian-speaking audience in Cyprus and CIS

Fides and advertising

Without retargeting ads perform 3-5 times weaker. We optimise:

• Google Merchant Center — XML feed with products for Google Shopping
• Facebook Shop / Instagram Shop — products directly through social networks
• Pinterest Shop — for visual niches (fashion, beauty, home)
• TikTok Shop — growing channel, especially for younger audiences
• Marketplaces — Wildberries, Ozon, Avito — XML feeds

SEO for an online store

• Schema.org Product with price, availability, rating — rich snippets in search results
• Unique meta tags for each category and product
• Sitemap with priorities (categories > products > blog)
• Crumb bread with microtagging
• Speed: LCP < 2.5s, CLS 0, INP < 200ms
• Mobile-first indexing (main)
• Multilingual SEO with hreflang
• Content marketing through blog (guides, reviews, comparisons)

Development timelines

Standard store with 100 SKUs and basic payments — 2 weeks. With 1C integration, loyalty programs, marketplaces — 3-5 weeks. Full Magento or Shopify Plus with B2B — 6-12 weeks. Marketplace with sellers - 10-16 weeks.