Oslo, Norway, June 8, 2022 – Opera [NASDAQ: OPRA] has added Shopping Corner to its popular desktop browser. Now millions of users in Germany, Poland, the United States and the United Kingdom can save both money and time while shopping online efficiently. Since the pandemic, shopping online has become the norm, rather than the exception. People all over the world have adopted it as a convenient substitute for brick and mortar shops. Opera is responding to these trends by providing its users with the most convenient online shopping experience available in the browser: Opera’s Shopping Corner is a central hub that provides the browser’s users with a faster, more personalized shopping experience.
In addition to Shopping Corner, Opera Browser also includes several other features that make shopping easier and more lucrative: the Dify Cashback service (available in Poland) allows users to get up to 30 percent of their money back, the Opera Coupons extension automatically applies the best promotions and deals, and Pinboards helps users collect and share links visually.
John Toskey, VP of PC Browsers at Opera, shares: “Looking at how the pandemic accelerated digital transformation, adding Shopping Corner to our browser is a logical step. It shows Opera’s commitment to a seamless shopping experience for anyone tired of browsing through hundreds of websites in search of the perfect find.”
Shopping Corner is a gateway to online shopping built right into Opera Browser’s sidebar. It was created in collaboration with local partners to make online shopping as simple and advantageous as possible. Just one click away, users now have access to multiple tools for saving money and time while shopping online. The best deals, trending coupons, popular shops, price comparison, shopping trends and news are now right in the sidebar of Opera Browser.
Accelerated digital transformation of online shopping
In 2021, e-commerce accounted for an estimated 19.6 percent of retail sales worldwide, and retail e-commerce sales amounted to approximately 4.9 trillion U.S. dollars. The 2020 pandemic period showed the highest growth of retail e-commerce sales worldwide, approximately 27 percent YoY, followed by 16 percent in 2021 and 12 percent expected by the end of 2022.
Forecasts by Statista indicate that by 2025, the online segment will make up close to a quarter of total global retail sales. E-commerce sales are forecasted to grow by 50 percent over the next four years, reaching about 7.4 trillion dollars by 2025. Online shopping is now one of the most popular online activities worldwide with global e-retail sales having reached 4.2 trillion U.S. dollars in 2020.
According to Insider Intelligence, apparel will be the fastest-growing category in the coming years, and consumers will increasingly purchase entertainment items and services online. Books, music, and videos (where ecommerce sales will account for 69.1 percent of total retail sales by 2023), as well as computers and consumer electronics will continue to be in demand (53.2 percent of total retail sales). Opera is responding to these trends by giving its users access to the best deals in these categories within the new Shopping Corner.
How Opera is meeting new needs
Online shopping is known to be imperfect: researching options, comparing specifications, reading reviews, looking for coupons and discounts, and checking prices and delivery times — until now, finding the right product with the right price and coupons to match took endless hours and dozens of open tabs. Opera Shopping Corner simplifies things for users by bringing all the information and services a user needs together in one space: the browser sidebar, allowing users to do their research, get inspired, find more options, buy what they want and save money in a single space.
Saving money with Shopping Corner
Opera’s Shopping Corner provides multiple tools for saving money while shopping online. The new integrated Search Tool allows users to find the products they are looking for at the best prices available online. It is powered by Amazon in the US, by Idealo in the United Kingdom and Germany, and by Ceneo in Poland. Users are just one click away from finding the best offers on the market without having to spend hours browsing the web to do so. They can simply type the name and brand of the product they want, scroll through the options and choose the most attractive offer.
Moreover, Shopping Corner offers coupons, deals and promotions from local partners. Now there is no need to dig through the entire web to find the best promo codes—they are already available in the Coupons section of Shopping Corner.
In Poland Opera’s cashback service Dify, which is attracting a continuously growing number of users thanks to its generous cashback percentages, is also integrated into Shopping Corner to make saving money more seamless than ever.
Shopping Corner as a real time-saver
Shopping online doesn’t have to be time-consuming to be fruitful. Shopping Corner has a Shopping News section that lets users instantly see and explore the latest releases, trends and rare finds. The Popular Shops feature shows users where others have shopped and which shops they trust. For those who have closed tabs they would like to return to, the Continue Shopping feature lets users pick up their shopping where they left off.
To start using the Shopping Corner instantly, users just need to click its icon in the sidebar of Opera Browser. With over 25 years of experience in the browser space, Opera has created a seamless shopping experience that in no way impacts the speed of the browser. Additionally, with more integrated features and partnerships in the works, Opera will be continuing to upgrade Shopping Corner to meet the needs of its users.
About Opera
Opera is a global web innovator with an active base of hundreds of millions of monthly active users who have sought a better internet experience. Building on over 25 years of innovation that started with browser products, Opera is now leveraging its brand and highly engaged user base in order to expand its business into new segments. Today, Opera offers users around the world a range of products and services that include PC and mobile browsers, the newsreader Opera News, and apps dedicated to gaming, Web3 and e-commerce. Opera is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, and listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange (OPRA). Download the Opera browsers from www.opera.com.