I need a list of at least five non-food retail websites in Cyprus.    
They must be B2C sites (so not Ebay, not clasifieds, not shopping    
comparison sites,  although the latter can lead you to appropriate    
sites). They must TRANSACT ONLINE (ie not a site that shows products    
but doesnt let you  buy). The top sites may be foreign (Amazon is the    
best example) but I  dont just want a list of US sites.    
     
- Comments. A one or two sentence salient summary of relevant points    
about the retailer (more than the site). This is also       
a good place to say why this is a leading site and to highlight online    
revenues  and/or number of online customers for the retailers if    
available at all.    
      
2. I also need a list of leading FOOD retail websites (again    
they must sell grocery online). Same as above.    
     
If as you are searching, you come across any additional data on size    
of online shopping in the country, online population, etc, please post    
as additional URLs with no need for explanation.    
     
Thank you      
      
Webuserid

Hi Webuseris-ga,

As you will probably know, Cyprus is a very small country - it is also
divided - and so I am assuming that you want to know about the
majority Greek Cypriot part of the island (the southern two-thirds of
the country), which numbers about 750,000 people. I hope the following
will prove useful:


***
Net Drinks
http://www.netdrinks.com
Although this may belong in the food category, I have included it here
for reasons that will become obvious in the next section. Looking at
other sites, this is probably one of the most advanced online shopping
sites on the island.

***
Mathisis Books
http://www.mathisis.com
The only specifically Cypriot book store I could find online.
Unfortunately, the site appears only in Greek. However, it is well
designed and probably the most professional Cypriot online store.

***
Astra Car Rentals
http://www.astracarrentals.com

One of the largest economic sectors in Cyprus is the tourism industry
and there are several large car hir firms on the island. ASTRA Self
Drive Cars Ltd is the oldest Car Rental Company on the island of
Cyprus. Starting in 1946 with an "Ariel" motorcycle, today it has a
fleet of over 800 cars.

***
Cyprus Airways
http://www.cyprusairways.com

Founded in 1947, Cyprus Airways is the official national carrier of
the island. It is still majority owned by the Government of Cyprus.

***
Red Rose Florists
http://www.redrose.com.cy/

An example of an online florist and flower arranger. Company founded
in 1998. It is not clear how long they have been online.

***
DVD Eurotrends
http://www.dvd.com.cy

No company information made available on the site.

***

FOOD RETAILERS

It is worth noting that despite its small size (the island is only
9251 sq. km), Cyprus has a large number of supermarkets. In fact the
general feeling is that the market is saturated. However, none of the
main ones offer online shopping. The main three are:

***
AlfaMega Hypermarket
http://www.alphamega.com.cy/EN/

Previously known as Charalambides, and founded in 1958, it underwent a
full corporate makeover in 2002, a change that included renaming the
company to AlfaMega.

***
Orphanides Supermarket
http://www.orphanides.com.cy

First store opened in 1988 in Larnace, a seaside town. Today the
company has 7 Supermarkets and 2 Shopping Centers located all over
Cyprus. Overall turnover in 2002 was CYŁ75 million (Cyprus Pounds).

***
Chris Cash and Carry
http://www.chris.com.cy/ccc/site_gr/index.php
The English section of the site does not function yet. At present the
company has five stores, each of which are located in coastal towns -
Larnaca, Limassol (the island's second city) and Paphos.

***

Overall, internet usage is fairly well developed. However, from an
examination of sites, it would seem that the prevalence of online
shopping remains fairly low on the island. This might be a result of
the fact that it is a small country and people are very close to
retail outlets. There is also a very different work culture on the
island and very few companies work the types of hours that make online
shopping the real advantage for professionals that it is elsewhere. In
other words, the convenience argument of online shopping does not seem
to apply for the local market.

It would seem likely, therefore, that the main online shopping markets
are for goods that cannot be readily bought on the island. I would
imagine that most online shoppers are not using Cypriot sites, but are
instead using international sites - like Amazon.

In terms of identifying the trends there is not much available.
However, the following papers may be useful:

THE CYPRIOT INTERNET MARKET 2001
http://www.strategic.gr/whitepapers/TheCypriotInternetMarket2001.doc

International Council for Information Technology in Government
Administration
http://www.ica-it.org/conf35/docs/cyprus.pdf

As far as some general portals and directories are concerned, you
might like to take a look at the following (all are in English - which
is very widely spoken on the island):

Cypria http://www.cypria.com
Eureka http://www.kypros.org/eureka
Welcome to Cyprus http://www.welcometocyprus.com/
Cyprus Online http://www.cyprus-online.com

There is not much available regarding the northern, Turkish held part
of the island but the following site might be worth looking at:

http://www.northcyprusonline.com

Search terms
------------

Internet usage in Cyprus
Online shopping in Cyprus
Internet data for Cyprus