The case for an international e-commerce platform in Heraklion
Heraklion is a commercial centre in Greece where around 145,000 people live and shop, and one of the places where we build international and multi-region stores for local businesses.
Businesses here work in tourism and research; many are based around the city centre and Science and Technology Park of Crete.
Logistics are supported by Heraklion Airport, which matters when you promise customers fast delivery.
Greece has SMEs make up 99% of all businesses in the European Union (European Commission). Greek shoppers research heavily on Skroutz and expect cash-on-delivery and IRIS options. Island delivery rules and Greek-language product content are important.
That is why more companies in Heraklion are moving from phone, WhatsApp and spreadsheet orders to a proper international e-commerce platform — one place where products, prices, payments, orders and customers are managed together.
What makes a Heraklion store feel local
A store that works in Heraklion respects local habits as well as local law. These are the details we configure first.
Currency and pricing
Everything a Heraklion shopper sees — price, tax, delivery fee, refund — is in EUR, written the local way.
Language and content
We localise pages, emails and notifications into Greek where your audience needs it.
Local trust signals
We add the payment logos, courier names and policy pages shoppers in Heraklion recognise: Visa and Mastercard and IRIS instant payments and delivery through ELTA Courier.
Domain, phone and contact
A .gr domain (or your own) builds local trust and search relevance. Contact buttons are pre-set with +30, so a customer in Heraklion taps once to call or message.
Talent and partners nearby
Heraklion draws on University of Crete and FORTH, which means plenty of local staff, interns and technology partners to run the store after launch.
Custom-built for how you sell in Heraklion
We do not hand Heraklion businesses a ready-made theme: we study how you sell, then build the online platform and Android/iOS app your customers and staff actually need.
Typical clients include D2C brands expanding abroad, manufacturers selling to distributors overseas, diaspora-focused retailers and tourism and gifting businesses. Categories that sell especially well online in Greece — electronics, fashion, beauty and home — get catalogue structures and filters designed for them.
We start with a requirements meeting, show you a working demo within 24 hours, and only then propose scope, milestones and budget.
What your international e-commerce platform includes
Nothing here is fixed: modules are switched on, reshaped or built from scratch around how your Heraklion business sells.
Regional storefronts
Country or region sites with local language, content, currency, promotions and hreflang SEO. Storefront language, imagery and navigation are set up for Heraklion shoppers and available in Greek.
Local payments
Market-specific cards, wallets, bank transfers, BNPL and cash methods through suitable providers. Catalogues come in from spreadsheets, ERP exports or supplier feeds, so your Heraklion team keeps its current way of working.
Tax and duties
VAT, GST and sales-tax rules, tax-inclusive pricing, duties and landed-cost estimates where needed. Checkout is configured for Visa and Mastercard, IRIS instant payments and PayPal.
Cross-border shipping
International couriers, regional warehouses, shipping zones, customs documents and returns. Couriers such as ELTA Courier, ACS and Geniki Taxydromiki plug in alongside your own fleet for Heraklion orders.
Compliance pages
Market-appropriate privacy notices, cookie consent, consumer terms and accessibility considerations. Inventory can sit in Heraklion, in a partner warehouse or across Greece, with click-and-collect where customers want it.
Regional reporting
Sales, margin, conversion and marketing performance by country and currency. Reports show which products, customers and areas of Heraklion drive revenue.
Businesses that use NNT Mart in Heraklion
Popular online categories in Greece include electronics, fashion, beauty, home, food and olive oil and tourism products. Local demand in Heraklion is shaped by tourism and research, so we often design catalogues and B2B ordering around those sectors. In Heraklion, we most often build international and multi-region stores for:
Exporters
Exporters get regional storefronts plus tax and duties workflows tailored to their operations.
D2C brands expanding abroad
We map how D2C brands expanding abroad sell today and digitise it end to end — from enquiry and order to payment, dispatch and repeat purchase.
Manufacturers selling to distributors overseas
For manufacturers selling to distributors overseas, we usually start with cross-border shipping, then add international couriers and 3PLs once orders are flowing.
Diaspora-focused retailers
Catalogue, pricing and fulfilment rules designed for diaspora-focused retailers in Heraklion, connected to the systems you already use.
Tourism and gifting businesses
Tourism and gifting businesses get compliance pages plus regional storefronts workflows tailored to their operations.
Multi-country retail groups
We map how multi-country retail groups sell today and digitise it end to end — from enquiry and order to payment, dispatch and repeat purchase.
Checkout and payment methods for Heraklion
A store that serves Heraklion should let customers pay the way they do offline: Visa and Mastercard, IRIS instant payments, PayPal and cash on delivery (antikatavoli).
Gateway selection depends on your category and merchant approval; we connect the provider, reconcile payments, automate retries and refunds, and never store raw card data. Prices, taxes and refunds appear in euro (EUR).
Business buyers around the city centre often want invoices or bank transfer, while consumers lean on Visa and Mastercard. We support both flows.
- PayPal
- IRIS instant payments
- Cash on delivery (antikatavoli)
- Klarna
- Visa and Mastercard
- Bank transfer
Delivery and fulfilment from Heraklion
Your international e-commerce platform can book shipments and share tracking with ELTA Courier, ACS, Geniki Taxydromiki, Speedex and BOX NOW lockers, or route orders to your own riders and stores across Heraklion.
We set up shipping zones, cut-off times, free-shipping thresholds, cash-collection rules and returns so the promise on the product page matches what your team can deliver.
Connectivity in the area — Heraklion Airport — makes regional and national dispatch from Heraklion practical.
Marketplaces vs. your own international e-commerce platform in Heraklion
Many Heraklion sellers already list on Skroutz, Public, Plaisio, Kotsovolos, eBay and Amazon (DE/IT). Those channels bring traffic, but they also take commission, control the customer relationship and change rules without notice.
With your own international e-commerce platform you keep the customer data, set the offers and the packaging, and still push stock to marketplaces from a single admin.
Selling online legally in Greece
Greek VAT (FPA) is 24% standard with 13% and 6% reduced rates, and lower rates on some Aegean islands.
Two frameworks shape the build: the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the ePrivacy rules on cookies and marketing consent, enforced by the Hellenic Data Protection Authority, and the EU Consumer Rights Directive (14-day withdrawal right), the Digital Services Act and, from June 2025, the European Accessibility Act for online shops and Law 2251/1994 on consumer protection.
Our job is the engineering: price display with tax, invoice numbering, cookie and marketing consent, return and terms pages, role-based access and logs. Legal and tax conclusions stay with your own adviser in Greece.
Add a mobile app for Heraklion customers
Phones carry most traffic in Greece. Region-aware mobile apps can switch language, currency and payment options automatically while sharing one codebase and backend.
Apps are published under your own developer accounts and share the same backend as your international e-commerce platform, so offers, stock and orders are always consistent between web and mobile.
Order alerts, offers and abandoned-cart reminders go out on Heraklion time (UTC+3), in Greek if you want.
- Marketplace feeds by country
- ERP and accounting
- Regional analytics
- Translation management
- Tax engines
- International couriers and 3PLs
- Multi-currency payment providers
- Geo-IP and consent platforms
Integrations above are examples; we connect any system that offers a suitable API, database access or approved import and export process.
From first demo to growth in Heraklion
We launch the journeys that create value first, then add depth. A typical roadmap for an international e-commerce platform in Heraklion:
| Phase | What goes live |
|---|---|
| First market | One new region with language, currency, payments, tax and shipping. Configured for EUR, Visa and Mastercard and ELTA Courier from the start. |
| Multi-region | Additional countries, local promotions and marketplace feeds. |
| Optimise | Regional apps, warehouses and localisation improvements. Reviewed against how Heraklion customers actually buy. |
Success is measured on conversion by country, international order share, checkout completion by payment method, delivery time by region, return rate abroad and margin after duties and shipping — tracked on a dashboard you can see from launch day.
Working with our team from Heraklion
Heraklion runs on UTC+3, which is 2h 30m behind India (IST). With three 8-hour shifts we are available 24×7, so meetings, demos and urgent fixes happen in your working hours.
Project communication is in English; storefront content can be produced in Greek. You get a named lead, direct engineer access and an NDA if you ask.
Our head office is in Chhapi, Gujarat, with an office in Hyderabad and representation in Nigeria, South Africa, Ethiopia and Zambia; Heraklion clients are served remotely with on-site workshops when the project needs them.
