Skroutz was founded in 2005 by Giorgos Chatzigeorgiou, a software engineer from Athens, who saw that Greek consumers had no reliable way to compare product prices across different online and physical retailers. At the time, the Greek e-commerce market was fragmented and largely informal. Shopping online required visiting multiple websites separately, with no guarantee of accuracy or trust.
The initial product was a price comparison engine — a platform where consumers could search for a product and instantly see prices from multiple retailers side by side. This simple value proposition proved extremely popular. Within a few years, Skroutz had become the default first step in the online shopping journey for millions of Greek consumers.
As the platform grew, the team recognised that price comparison alone was not enough. Consumers wanted to actually purchase products through the platform, not just compare them. Skroutz responded by building out its marketplace functionality, allowing retailers to list products and process transactions directly. It then developed its own logistics network — Skroutz Last Mile — to ensure fast and reliable delivery, a crucial differentiator in a market where delivery infrastructure was historically weak.
The company also invested heavily in user experience, developing sophisticated search algorithms, product data enrichment tools, and a review system that quickly became trusted by Greek consumers. Sellers benefited from access to Skroutz's large audience and marketing tools.
By 2020, Skroutz had grown to employ hundreds of people and was processing millions of transactions per year. It attracted significant private investment, enabling further expansion of its logistics and technology capabilities. Despite competition from global platforms such as Amazon and eBay, Skroutz maintained its leading position in Greece by deeply understanding local consumer behaviour, building trust, and continuously innovating its services.
