Selling Online in Czechia: The Heureka, Zboží and Alza Playbook
- In Czechia the purchase decision often happens off your website. Shoppers compare prices and read merchant reviews on Heureka before they trust an unknown store, so being absent there reads as a red flag.
- Three channels matter: Heureka (comparison + reviews), Seznam Nákupy (formerly Zboží.cz, product ads across Seznam), and Alza (the largest Czech marketplace).
- Checkout is where foreign stores lose orders: no pickup-point delivery, no cash on delivery, no CZK pricing, no visible returns process — each one costs conversions.
- Feed quality beats price alone. A Czech product title with the wrong wording is invisible on comparison engines even when your price is competitive.
Why a great store still fails in Czechia
Plenty of foreign brands launch a polished Czech-language shop, drive paid traffic to it, and watch the orders trickle instead of flow. The product is good and the price is fair, so what went wrong? Usually the same thing: they treated Czechia like a market where the shopper decides on your website. In Czechia, a large part of the decision happens on comparison engines and marketplaces first, and the checkout expectations are specific enough that a “standard” European store quietly loses orders at the last step.
This playbook covers the three channels that matter, the checkout details that decide conversion, and the feed work that makes any of it visible.
The Czech e-commerce market in four numbers
Czechia is a mature, competitive e-commerce market widely described by local industry sources as having one of Europe’s highest densities of online stores per capita. That means two things for a newcomer: demand is real, but so is comparison. Czech shoppers are practised at putting three sellers side by side, and the infrastructure that lets them do it (Heureka, Seznam Nákupy, Alza) is where your visibility is won or lost.
Channel 1: Heureka — the trust and comparison layer
Heureka is the leading Czech price-comparison and review platform. Heureka Group reports 23 million monthly users and more than 55,000 listed e-shops across its nine-country network (a company figure, group-wide), and a 2025 market presentation estimated roughly 13.6 million monthly visits to Heureka in Czechia with about a 60% share of comparison shopping (a third-party estimate). Whichever metric you focus on, the role is the same: Heureka is where Czechs compare price and judge whether a seller can be trusted.
Heureka helps shoppers compare prices, assess the trustworthiness of merchants, and use genuine customer reviews.
That trust function is the part foreign brands underestimate. The “Ověřeno zákazníky” (Verified by Customers) badge, earned through Heureka’s post-purchase feedback programme, is a recognised Czech trust signal, and its absence is conspicuous. Note that Heureka Group revised the commercial model for this programme in Czechia and Slovakia from September 2025, so check current terms rather than older guides. For most retail categories, a Heureka presence with a healthy review profile is the price of being considered.
Channel 2: Seznam Nákupy — product ads across the Seznam world
Zboží.cz is Seznam’s price-comparison and product-discovery service. In February 2025, Seznam renamed its shopping campaigns “Seznam Nákupy” and now positions the product as reaching more than half of actively shopping Czech internet users — a platform reach claim based on NetMonitor data spanning Seznam Search, Zboží.cz, Sbazar and Seznam Images.
Practically, this is Seznam’s answer to Google Shopping, and it is managed inside Sklik. If your category has meaningful demand on Seznam (see our Google vs. Seznam guide), product listings here reach shoppers your Google feed never touches — disproportionately older and desktop buyers.
Channel 3: Alza — the marketplace question
Alza is the largest Czech e-commerce platform. Independent researcher ECDB ranked it first in Czechia with an estimated US$1.78 billion in 2024 online revenue (a market estimate blending own retail and marketplace GMV, rather than audited statutory revenue). For a foreign brand, Alza is a strategic choice rather than a default:
| Your own store | Alza marketplace | |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | You build it via ads and Heureka | Instant access to Alza’s traffic |
| Trust | You build it from scratch | Borrowed from Alza’s brand and logistics |
| Margin | Full, minus your own marketing | Reduced by marketplace fees |
| Data & relationship | You own the customer | Limited — the customer is Alza’s |
| Best for | Brand building, repeat purchase, margin | Fast validation, reach, categories where Czechs default to Alza |
Checkout: where foreign stores actually lose the order
You can win the comparison and still lose at checkout if the last screen breaks Czech expectations. In DHL’s 2026 e-commerce survey, 77% of Czech respondents said they would abandon a purchase if their preferred delivery method was missing, and 69% said the same about returns options. Delivery and returns are conversion features here.
77% of Czech shoppers would abandon a purchase if their preferred delivery method was not offered, and 69% would do so without their preferred returns option.
The Czech checkout non-negotiables:
- Pickup points and lockers. Zásilkovna (Packeta) collection points and lockers are a mainstream default. Offer them, and show the delivery point clearly.
- Cash on delivery (dobírka). Still expected, especially for a first purchase from an unfamiliar seller. Removing it removes the safety net that converts cautious first-time buyers.
- Prices in CZK, VAT included, with delivery cost shown before the final step rather than as a last-minute surprise.
- A clear returns and complaints process in Czech. Czech consumer-protection norms are well understood by shoppers; vagueness reads as risk.
- Delivery time in working days, accounting for Czech public holidays and a Czech contact point. “Ships from abroad, unclear when” loses the sale.
The feed is the whole game
Comparison engines and marketplaces run on your product feed, and this is where foreign sellers quietly lose visibility. A feed problem cannot be out-bid:
- Czech product titles built for Czech search, rather than translated English titles. If the searched term is missing from the title, your competitive price never gets seen.
- Correct category mapping on Heureka and Seznam Nákupy. Wrong category means wrong comparison set, or none.
- Complete product attributes (size, colour, brand, EAN) so your products match filters and product cards.
- Accurate stock and delivery data — inconsistent availability suppresses ranking and erodes trust.
A launch sequence for foreign e-commerce
| Step | Action | Why first |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fix checkout: pickup points, dobírka, CZK, returns | No point buying traffic that abandons at the last step |
| 2 | Build a Czech-localized feed with native titles | Visibility on every channel depends on it |
| 3 | List on Heureka; start collecting Verified reviews | Trust layer Czechs check before buying |
| 4 | Launch Google Shopping + Seznam Nákupy by category fit | Paid demand once the store can convert it |
| 5 | Decide on Alza as reach/validation, if it fits margin | Strategic, not automatic — protect the relationship |
Frequently asked questions
Do I really need to be on Heureka to sell in Czechia?
For most retail categories, effectively yes. Heureka is where Czech shoppers compare prices and check whether a seller is trustworthy, and the Verified by Customers badge is a recognised trust signal. Being absent looks like a red flag next to competitors who are present with reviews.
What is Seznam Nákupy and is it different from Zboží.cz?
It is the same shopping ecosystem rebranded. In February 2025 Seznam renamed its Zboží.cz shopping campaigns “Seznam Nákupy” and now runs them inside Sklik, positioning them as reaching over half of active Czech shoppers. Think of it as Seznam’s Google Shopping equivalent.
Should a foreign brand sell on Alza?
It depends on your goal and margin. Alza gives instant reach and borrowed trust but takes marketplace fees and owns the customer relationship. Many brands use it to validate demand and gather early reviews, while building their own store as the long-term margin and relationship channel.
Do we need a Czech warehouse, or can we ship cross-border?
Many EU sellers ship cross-border successfully, but Czech delivery expectations still apply: offer pickup points and lockers, state delivery time in working days, accounting for Czech public holidays, and make returns easy. If cross-border delivery is slow or returns are awkward, conversion suffers regardless of where you warehouse.
Is cash on delivery still necessary?
For many categories, yes — especially for first purchases from an unknown seller. Dobírka is the reassurance that converts cautious buyers. You can encourage prepaid options with pricing, but removing cash on delivery entirely tends to cost first-order conversions.
Sources
- Heureka Group — corporate profile (23M monthly users, 55,000+ e-shops, nine countries; company figures, group-wide). heureka.group
- Heureka Group — Czech e-commerce turnover 2024 (CZK 194bn, +5% YoY; market estimate). heureka.group
- Seznam.cz — “Zboží.cz campaigns are now Seznam Nákupy” (50%+ active-shopper reach, NetMonitor), Feb 2025. blog.seznam.cz
- ECDB — Top companies by e-commerce revenue, Czech Republic (Alza #1, ~US$1.78bn 2024; independent estimate). ecommercedb.com
- DHL eCommerce — Delivery and Returns Trends 2026 (77% / 69% abandonment figures; survey Dec 2025–Feb 2026). dhl.com
Launching a Czech e-shop?
We set up foreign brands on Heureka, Seznam Nákupy and Google Shopping from Prague (feed, checkout, reviews and campaigns) and tell you honestly where Alza fits.
Discuss your Czech e-commerce launchMore from the Czech Market Playbook: all 12 guides · Related: Google vs. Seznam, First 90 Days