Nowadays, as affiliate marketer, almost every country in the world can be your market, and every citizen of the world can become your potential buyer or lead.

You have probably heard about TIER country breakdown. This term is most commonly used in online marketing industry. Definitive split per countries doesn’t exist and there is no precise rule which can define this split. Split is closely related to payouts, traffic costs, geo market regulations and audience living standard.

In this matter, there are 3 major TIER groups:
Tier 1 countries – these countries have been considered as most competitive ones, with most expensive traffic.
Tier 2 countries – these GEO’s are less competitive and population has lower average income.
Tier 3 countries – these GEO’s have a very little potential in regards of the buying power.

Tier 1 are English speaking countries and some European countries, Tier 2 are considered to be most of the European countries and Tier 3 are rest of the world.

Every country in the world is under certain regulations and internet audience is not exception for regulations, as well. Tier 1 countries are the most regulated, because these countries have been exploited for years and governments have made certain regulations in order to protect their citizens. From the affiliation perspective, these regulations (especially when it comes to carrier billing) are directly influencing on advertising campaign and conversion rate. So even payouts in these countries can go very high, sometimes all this is not worth all that bothering and struggle.

On the other side developing countries that may be included in Tier 2 and 3 have less regulations, traffic is lot cheaper and more possibilities for you as affiliate marketer to run stable campaign with more possibilities for conversion rates.

ZETA countries

Zetaniche is covering: Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.

Zeta countries are mostly considered as Tier 2 countries. Besides lower competition, cheaper traffic, less regulations and easier monetization of mobile traffic that we have already mentioned, very important thing on which we wanted to pay attention in this blog post is the audience habits and buying interest in these GEO’s.

Since it’s not possible that we provide you full information for countries one by one, we will try to give you a few general pointers that will help you understand why these GEO’s may be excellent choice for you.

Europeans are quite active in the internet based market. One in four Europeans with internet access shopped online at least once a week last year, while over 60% shopped online once a month. 6% of Europeans shop online every day.

Central Europe

Poland is, in terms of population, one of the largest countries in Europe and is currently experiencing enormous growth in online buying. About 75% percent of the population has already tried online shopping at some point and 46% percent of the population shop online regularly. One in four internet users in Poland already shop online and plan to increase the amount of money they spend online. With this, Poland is European country you shouldn’t miss!

When it comes to Czech Republic market, most 25 – 54 year-old’s spend between €100 and €500 on online purchases. Cash on delivery is preferred payment method in Czech Republic, as well as in Hungary (more about Hungary marketing insights you can read in this post).

In Slovakia average spending per buyer was €202 in the last year and 90% of online orders were done via desktop, while in Slovenia the average spending per buyer in was €359. Cash on delivery is the most common payment method in Slovenia, as 46% prefer this method.

Southern Europe

Italy is the third largest economy in Europe and a founding member of the European Union. Studies show that people between 35 and 44 years are the largest group of Italian online buyers and that they use the smartphones the most for this activity. Regarding delivery preferences, 92% of online buyers in Italy prefer to receive deliveries at their offices and homes. And when it comes to paying for these online purchases, Italians prefer PayPal or similar methods, followed by debit/credit cards and cash on delivery.

When it comes to Portugal, over 46% of 16-54 year-old’s purchased online in the last 12 months and they have spent 4.2 billion euros online last year.

Greece buying power is less advanced than in other EU member states. The main reason, in addition to the prolonged economic crisis. Cash on delivery remains the most popular method of payment. Web-based trade in Cyprus remains relatively small, but is growing.

North Europe

3.2 billion euros was spent for online buys in Finland last year. Mobile devices are utilized for researching and price comparison, but three out of four online purchases in Finland are still made with a computer.

There are currently 1.32 million internet buyers in Lithuania. Males between the ages of 25-34 account for the biggest market share, representing 230,000 buyers. The second biggest category of online buyers are women aged between 25-34.

In Latvia 78 percent of the country’s total population use the Internet every day. According to recent official data, 44% of the Latvian population made online purchases within the past year.

In Estonia, on average, consumers made 8.4 purchases online in 2016.

Eastern Europe and Balkan countries

4 million Bulgarians purchased online in 2016. Most online buyers in Bulgaria like to pay with cash on delivery. 89% of online shoppers in Bulgaria shop online via desktop, 5% of buyers made purchases via smartphone, and just 3% made their most recent purchase via tablet

According to data reports, the absolute majority of online consumers in Romania (90%) prefer to pay cash-on-delivery. The average online buyer in Romania is between 25 and 35 years old.

Online ordering is getting more and more popular in Ukraine. Ukraine’s population exists of 45.2 million people, of which 58% uses the internet. 3.7 million of these internet users buy online.

In Belarus, most people prefer to pay by cash on delivery, as this was chosen by 60% of online users. Far less popular are credit card payments, which has been used by 13% of Belorussian online consumers. Then comes the method is paying via a cell phone, where 0,3% ever used it.

Of those with internet access in Macedonia, 19.3% ordered through the internet in 2016. Facebook advertising is currently the most successful, due to the popularity of Facebook in Macedonia.

In Croatia 47% of online buyers prefer paying with cash-on-delivery and the amount of 65% of online purchases in Croatia is €50 euros or less.

61% of Montenegrins are frequent users of the Internet. Due to the increased consumer awareness and the demand for products, Montenegro should be a choice for promotion as well.

Nearly 60% of Serbians are frequent users of the Internet. Number of online orders in Serbia exceeded 2 million in 2016.

Ordering online through use of a credit card in Bosnia and Herzegovina is not that common. Cash-on-delivery method is the most popular.

In Albania internet shopping is in its early stages, due to the low use of credit cards, low purchasing power, and the high cost of shipping. Facebook is widely used for marketing purposes.

Central Asia and North Africa

Internet use of Kazakhstan has grown quickly over the last year, to 77% of the population in 2016. The most progressive types of purchases are online payments for mobile services and public utilities. Payments for orders over the Internet from Kazakhstan are mostly done by cash-on-delivery or bank transfer and rarely by credit/debit cards.

In Morocco, internet usage recorded 8% growth in 2016. Morocco has one of Africa’s highest internet breaktrough and internet buying in this geo is being built on this.

Hope these information introduced you that buying power in ZETA countries exists, some of these countries are still developing, but for you as affiliate marketer, this means more possibilities for testing and exploring, especially after you get clearer picture of audience habits and needs. Also, we need to mention that in 70-80% of Zeta countries cash-on-delivery is preferable delivering model for all online purchases, which is one more reason why you should definitely start promoting our COD offers!

Do not hesitate to contact us on support@zetaniche.com or Skype us at aff_zetaniche for further information on one of these countries. It would be our pleasure to assist you with our experience and knowledge!

One more important thing to mention! Be sure to find out what are the top GEO’s and offers on time! Subscribe to our newsletter and get updates about our top GEO’s and offers on weekly basis!