Online Shopping and Deliveries in Portugal

You’re probably super used to doing online shopping and purchasing a lot of things through websites, especially after the covid boom of e-commerce. Now, if you’re thinking of coming to Portugal you might think that online shopping is as usual as in almost every other country, but it is actually not like you imagine. Buying online is not as common as you’d expect in Portugal, however, the trend is slightly growing and here we will guide you on how online shopping in the country works and also the delivery of the goods.

If you’re thinking of buying from international chains, here’s what you need to know. We thought Amazon was everywhere in the world, but we were wrong. The company doesn’t have an official presence in the country yet even though the rumors are always saying that they’re soon to have a warehouse in Portugal, but it hasn’t happened until now. This doesn't mean that you can’t buy stuff from Amazon, because you can, but you have to do it on the Amazon websites from other European countries, like  Amazon Spain which is the closest one to Portugal and would make the delivery more convenient, but Amazon Germany is quite popular in the country too.  It is similar to what happens to eBay, there is no Portuguese website for it and not many Portuguese sellers either, but it is worth giving it a try if you are looking for something very specific that you couldn’t find on Amazon. But, since this e-commerce is more popular in specific countries like eBay US and eBay UK, both outside the European Union, you might be likely to pay taxes and higher fees for your goods to be delivered to Portugal.

However, if you’re thinking of buying from online shops with presence in Portugal, they’re a few very good ones that you’d like to have a look at. The most popular e-commerce site in Portugal is OLX, here you can basically find whatever you want from kitchen goods and toys to houses and animals. OLX is not actually a shop but it qualifies more like a classifieds website from Portugal. When it comes to shops, there are two that are super popular in the country. Fnac is a French chain but with a big share in Portugal and many stores around the country, in Fnac you can find a big variety of electronics, books, gifts, music, video games and toys. There is also a Portuguese chain, called Worten, that sells home appliances and diverse electronics, the shops are all over the country and not only in the mainland and also in some parts of Spain, Worten is definitely one of the most popular online shops in the country that are from here too.

So now that you have decided on which shop to do online shopping, you need to know how it is going to be to get your orders delivered, which is a whole different topic. If you know people that live in Portugal, maybe you know a bit about how parcel deliveries work, if not don’t worry, we will let you know. Only to warn you, it is pretty common that there are issues in the delivery of parcels which is mostly a problem with the courier rather than the online shop you bought your goods on. If you live in a house in downtown or on the first floor you’ll probably be fine. However, if you live on the top floor of an apartment building, especially with no elevator, it is very probable that your parcel won’t be delivered because the delivery people will usually not feel like climbing up to your place and you might pick it up afterwards from a  courier warehouse. To solve these issues people have come up with funny solutions like waiting outside the main entrance of their buildings but you can also choose your goods to be delivered to another address, hopefully a first floor address.

We hope this information will help you somehow (and that you get your deliveries done).