Internet sales in the Czech Republic came to CZK 43 bn (€1.6 bn) in 2012, equivalent to the volumes generated by 46 standard shopping centres and retail parks, research by Cushman & Wakefield finds.

Internet sales in the Czech Republic came to CZK 43 bn (€1.6 bn) in 2012, equivalent to the volumes generated by 46 standard shopping centres and retail parks, research by Cushman & Wakefield finds.

The research is based on data from APEK (association for electronic commerce), the Czech statistics office and proprietary C&W data.

The finding means that besides adding, on average, almost eight physical shopping centres and retail parks between 2001-2012, the Czech Republic has also added an additional four virtual shopping centres on average a year.

The calculation of a virtual shopping centre is based on the turnover of an average-size physical retail project. The Czech Republic currently has 128 'real' shopping centres and retail parks larger than 10,000 m2. The average size of a retail project is some 24,000 m2.

'Both shopping centres and the internet are modern retail channels that have expanded rapidly in the last decade. The comparison is approximate and serves only to visualize the size of the internet sales segment,' says Michal Soták, head of research Czech Republic & Slovakia at Cushman & Wakefield.