Romanian E-Commerce Market reached EUR 600 million in 2013
According to the statements given by the main players of the Romanian e-commerce market at the 8th edition of eCommerce Awards Gala (GPeC), which took place in November 2013 in Bucharest, the local online retail market reached approximately 600 million Euros in the recently concluded year. This number only refers to products sold online (whatever their nature) and not services, bills, air tickets, tickets to shows, vacations and trips etc.
GPeC – the most important eCommerce event in Romania – published today, 1/27/2014, the key figures and statistics for the Romanian e-commerce market for 2013.
According to these, the number of Internet users reached 10 million last year (1 million more than in 2012 – source: Eurostat). 27% of the Romanian people connect to the Internet, meaning that approximately 1 in 4 Internet users buy online (source: Daedalus Millward Brown) and most online buyers (84%) live in urban areas, while 16% live in rural areas.
The average age of online buyers is between 25 and 35 years, but 2013 brought an increase of 5% in the 45 to 55 age segment, which now accounts for 15% of eCommerce users (compared to 10% in 2012 ).
Regarding online card payment, the number of transactions increased by approx. 35% YoY in 2013, according to the statements of the VISA, MasterCard and RomCard officials from the eCommerce Awards Gala. However, the preferred payment method of the Romanian people remains cash on delivery, being used in over 90% of transactions.
The total value of online credit card transactions processed in the RomCard’s 3D Secure System is approx. 220 million Euros in 2013 (a figure similar to the value recorded in 2012 ) .
According to VISA Europe, the average value of transactions was around 37 Euros (paid in RON), compared to the higher value in 2012 when the average value of transactions was 45 million (paid in RON).
A very interesting fact is that the majority of online credit card transactions are international (60%), while only 40% are domestic transactions, according to the MasterCard statistics. In other words, Romanian people spend more money on websites abroad than on Romanian websites.
In Romania there are currently over 12 million cards enrolled in the 3D Secure system (compared to 11.3 million in 2012) and the number of active cards (actually used in online trading) increased from 410,000 in 2012 to over 600,000 in 2013.
Towards the end of the last year, over 17,000 online credit card transactions were taking place in the RomCard 3D Secure system each day, resulting in more than 500,000 transactions each month.
The Romanian e-commerce market consists of approx. 4,500 online stores, 1,000 more than in 2012, according to the estimates given by the main players. Of the total number of e-shops, over 1,000 are enrolled in and certified by the RomCard 3D Secure standard, a raise from the total of 781 stores in 2012.
„The Romanian e-commerce market expands steadily YoY with 33-35%. There are little, if at all, industries which still register such an increase. Even if in other neighbouring countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, the eCommerce market is more developed, Romania presents a fantastic growth potential and is high priority for investors when it comes to Eastern Europe.” says Andrei Radu, Founder & CEO of GPeC.
The figures published by GPeC are based on statistics and estimates made by VISA, MasterCard, RomCard, GPeC, Daedalus Millward Brown and the main players of the eCommerce market (representatives of top online shops).
GPeC (Romanian eCommerce Awards Gala) is the most important eCommerce event in Romania and the only online one that runs for eight months each year. The 9th edition will take place from April to November 2014.
We thank our partners, SilkWeb for this infographic’s design.
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