The percentage of enterprises engaging in online sales among the EU countries varied considerably. The highest shares were recorded in Lithuania (38.9%), Sweden (38.1%) and Denmark (36.7%). In contrast, the lowest shares were recorded in Romania (12.9%), followed by Luxembourg (13.4%) and Bulgaria (15.1%).

Despite solid growth of the Romanian e-commerce market, the country is the last in the EU in terms of companies selling online. According to TUYA Digital, the Romanian e-commerce market reached the threshold of EUR 6.3 billion at the end of 2022, slightly higher than the value recorded in 2021 (EUR 6.2 billion), according to the estimates of GPeC, ARMO and other local main stakeholders.

In 2022, 22.9% of EU enterprises conducted online sales, which was 0.1 percentage point (pp) higher compared with 2021 (22.8%) and 6.5 pp higher compared with 2012 (16.4%). 

The share of enterprises conducting online sales varied significantly depending on the size of the enterprises. In 2022, 45.9% of large enterprises in the EU conducted online sales and 30.2% of medium-sized enterprises. By contrast, 20.8% of small enterprises were engaged in online sales in 2022.

The post Romania Ranks Last in EU Regarding Companies with Online Sales appeared first on Valahia.News.

Romania’s e-commerce market is growing at a fast pace. According to recent studies, the Romanian e-commerce market reached the threshold of EUR 6.3 billion at the end of 2022, slightly higher than the value recorded in 2021 (EUR 6.2 billion).

Romanian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will receive support to increase cross-border e-commerce through the “e-export nation” programme, launched Tuesday, May 24, by the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitisation, the Romanian Post and eBay e-commerce platform.

Romanian businesses that sign up for this programme are supported to export their products to over 190 countries through eBay, considered one of the largest e-commerce platforms in the world. Thus, customers from different countries who choose to buy from Romanian merchants can receive their products at optimal costs and at the best delivery time using the services of the Romanian Post.

It is a dream come true that the platform will come to Romania. I think it is a dream come true for us and the private sector here. We often follow the example of the private sector in digitization and innovation, and we need to keep up the pace.

Sebastian Burduja, Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitization in Romania

Michael Sokolovsky, eBay’s Director of Communications and Marketing for EMEA, pointed out that through the “e-export nation” programme, Romanian SMEs will become more visible to global buyers.

Romania is one of the fastest-growing countries in our portfolio of emerging markets. Through the ‘e-export nation’ programme, we are helping Romanian SMEs to be visible to eBay’s 133 million active buyers in 190 markets worldwide.

Michael Sokolovsky, eBay’s Director of Communications and Marketing for EMEA

In this context, international customers who use the Romanian Post for delivery receive benefits: price discounts for three categories of services, free pick-up, 2-3 day deliveries for EMS (Express Mail Service) and reduced costs for large volumes.

The “e-export Nation Romania” programme is a national initiative to promote the growth of Romanian businesses, but its implications could be beyond that. Such programmes helping exporters succeed can significantly contribute to balancing the trade deficit, one of the most important economic indicators for the strength of any country’s economy, which in Romania exceeded EUR 31 Billion in 2022.

According to official data, there are currently 6,500 sellers registered on eBay in Romania, and the top-selling products on international markets are: car parts and accessories, clothing, electronics, collectibles, business & industrial.

About eBay

With 134 million active buyers worldwide, eBay is one of the largest online marketplaces. But it is much more than a user-friendly platform with a large customer base. eBay offers effective selling and promotion tools, flexible payment options, rich learning resources, and competitive fees. 

eBay is the marketplace for Romanian businesses looking to start selling globally and increase their online sales. Every 3 minutes, someone on eBay buys an item from a Romanian seller. The US and Europe are the main export destinations for thousands of Romanian eBay sellers.

The post eBay Helps Romania’s Exports through E-Export Nation Programme appeared first on Valahia.News.

BigCommerce, a leading Open SaaS e-commerce platform for fast-growing and established B2C and B2B brands, has entered Romania. The country has recently met an unprecedented level of e-commerce development, and the Romanian e-commerce market is set up to reach EUR 7 billion by the end of 2023.

Through this expansion and localized partnerships, BigCommerce delivers its modern enterprise e-commerce platform to help merchants of all sizes build and grow their online presence with innovative shopping experiences that power online sales and drive revenue.

BigCommerce’s entry into these markets paves the way for innovative merchants to revolutionize their business with a cutting-edge, composable e-commerce platform that offers unrivalled flexibility and customization. With our trusted regional partners taking the lead, the BigCommerce Open SaaS platform equips merchants with a complete e-commerce foundation that removes common management barriers so they can concentrate on what really matters most — growing and scaling their business and enhancing customer experiences.

Meghan Stabler, senior vice president of marketing at BigCommerce

BigCommerce partners Romanian-based CustomSoft and Poland-based Snowdog will lead in broadening the BigCommerce footprint across Eastern and Central Europe.

Merchants need a modular and adaptable e-commerce platform to build a solid online presence and remain competitive in today’s fast-paced digital world. With BigCommerce, we look forward to providing our joint customers with customized design and development solutions to create storefronts that deliver unforgettable shopping experiences that turn browsers into buyers and increase revenue.

Octavian Dumitrescu, chief executive officer at CustomSoft

The Romania markets will be managed by BigCommerce EMEA in London.

BigCommerce’s open commerce solution gives merchants the freedom and flexibility to build stores using sophisticated and easy-to-use enterprise-grade functionality, customization and performance. Merchants in Romania can up-level their online businesses to:

• Create versatile shopping experiences that power growth. In addition to a fully translated control panel and native-language support, retailers can use multi-language, multi-currency, secure payment capabilities and more to quickly create local storefronts or expand their customer reach in new markets. Global merchants can also use Multi-Storefront to efficiently manage multiple storefronts, brands, customer segments and geographies from a single BigCommerce store.
• Deliver an omnichannel shopping experience and surface new revenue streams. BigCommerce’s Open SaaS approach enables direct integrations with global channels such as Facebook Shopping, Instagram Shopping and TikTok Ads to help merchants develop robust omnichannel strategies to bolster sales.
• Tap into B2B functionality to build powerful B2B storefronts. BigCommerce’s advanced suite of native functionality and a robust ecosystem of integrated partner applications make it easy for B2B merchants to offer seamless B2C-like experiences to customers.
• Leverage headless technology for composable-oriented storefronts. As a leader in composable e-commerce and an early member of the MACH Alliance, BigCommerce integrates with top front-end frameworks. Its best-of-breed technology ecosystem enables businesses to evolve from monolithic architectures to agile, future-proof tech stacks.

Ready to digitally transform your business? Connect with BigCommerce in Romania, and sign up for a demo or free trial.

About BigCommerce

BigCommerce (Nasdaq: BIGC) is a leading open software-as-a-service (SaaS) e-commerce platform that empowers merchants of all sizes to build, innovate and grow their businesses online. BigCommerce provides merchants with sophisticated enterprise-grade functionality, customization and performance with simplicity and ease of use. Tens of thousands of B2C and B2B companies across 150 countries and numerous industries use BigCommerce to create beautiful, engaging online stores, including Ben & Jerry’s, Molton Brown, S.C. Johnson, Skullcandy, Solo Stove, Ted Baker and Vodafone. Headquartered in Austin, BigCommerce has offices in London, Kyiv, San Francisco, and Sydney.

The post BigCommerce Broadens International Presence with Entry into Romania appeared first on Valahia.News.

Once consumers saw how easy it is and what the benefits of online commerce are, they continued to order. As a result, we also noticed this paradigm shift in payments – namely the advance of card payments which, for several retailers, went to over 50%, and the average has increased a lot from this perspective. Things continued in 2021 and continued in 2022 at a steady pace. We have advanced well above average, unexpected for players for 2020 – and we are in a period of consolidation.

Florinel Chis, the executive director of the Romanian Association of Online Stores

After the pinnacle of the COVID-19 epidemic, when it was, for many individuals, the primary source of supply, e-commerce had proved that it had grown even more firmly embedded in the economy and society with a 13% increase in Europe in 2021 to EUR 718 billion.

According to data from Ecommerce Europe, currently, half of the people in Romania have an internet connection and shop online, compared to over 70% if Poland and Hungary are not taken into account, and to 90% in the Netherlands and the Nordic nations. Consequently, we have the opportunity to expand our customer base.

We often say that the pandemic has accelerated digitization. The pandemic has accelerated consumer behaviour. Several measures have also been, such as public campaigns encouraging online payments. The constant message was heard everywhere: pay online instead of using cash to limit contact. The pandemic created the context, and measures contributed to this acceleration. We see that those consumers who started ordering online stay there and continue to order online, which is validated by Eurostat by increasing the number of people who order online.

Florinel Chis, the executive director of the Romanian Association of Online Stores

The e-commerce market in Romania has expanded yearly, and the industry experts’ optimism is genuine. From this standpoint, the epidemic was beneficial, and the evolution is anticipated to continue at its current rate.

Western Europe is the most substantial region in B2C e-commerce sales, accounting for 63% of the total in 2021. Southern Europe is in second place with 16% of total sales, Central Europe and Northern Europe come in third and fourth (10% and 9%, respectively), and Eastern Europe (2%) last.

This section is powered by TUYA Digital – SEO & Digital Marketing agency.

The post Romania’s E-commerce Sector to Increase by 13% YoY in 2022 appeared first on Valahia.News.

“The Romanian e-commerce market, including electronic payment for goods and services purchased from local sellers, amounted to approximately EUR 7 billion in 2020, up by 36% compared to the previous year, according to internal and external data analyzed by PayU, the leader of the online payments market in Romania. For 2021 we estimate a 25% increase in the number of online transactions and we expect the penetration rate of online card payment to reach the threshold of 39%.

Romanians have increasingly opted for card payment for online purchases. The penetration rate of online card payment has increased by 50%, reaching 36% in 2020, with a maximum reported by some merchants of over 50%. For 2021 we estimate a 25% increase in the number of transactions paid online and we expect the penetration rate of online card payment to reach the threshold of 39%. The total volume processed by PayU almost doubled, and the number of processed transactions increased by 61%, reaching 72 transactions per minute. The average value of a transaction increased by 22%, reaching 46 euros last year”.

Elena Gheorghe, country manager PayU

These figures are also the result of factors such as the fact that many buyers make an online payment for the first time online; even one of the top local banks announced that in the first months during the pandemic over 300,000 Romanians paid online for the first time. The one-click payment facility makes the customer experience extremely simple, secure and fast, as confirmed by the 117% annual increase in transactions paid with this option, accounting for 38% of total payments with card made in 2020.

“It is just the beginning of it. The e-commerce market in Romania has a tremendous potential. In the next years we’ll certainly witness it becoming a 10 Billion EUR market.

Let’s not forget in Romania it is now happening something very interesting, which doesn’t happen on many other markets: there is a strong tendency for the Romanian e-payment processors to offer solutions for integrating cryptocurrency with fiat, thus making the online purchasing process more available for the cryptocurrency owners. Let’s look at what happened with NETOPIA integrating Bitcoin payments, or the recent Elrond’s eGOLD integration on the same NETOPIA.

E-commerce is blooming in Romania and we’re proudly taking part at this interesting development.”

Catalin ADAM, founder at TUYA Digital – SEO & Digital Marketing

The optimism of the specialists working in the industry is genuine and the e-commerce market in Romania has grown year after year. Pandemic was, from this perspective, a positive factor, but the evolution is expected to keep the pace even after the pandemic is over.

Whether or not you’re thinking to invest in Romania, one thing is for certain: the country has started to become more attractive not only to investors, but also to those who want to outsource for cutting costs but keep the quality. In the end, globalization has brought some advantages along, hasn’t it?

This section is powered by TUYA Digital – SEO & Digital Marketing agency.

The post Romanian E-Commerce Market Hit 7 Billion EUR in 2020 appeared first on Valahia.News.

The authors say in 2021 Romanian media market is expected to increase with 4%. Thus, this year the market will reach a value of 485 million Euros as compared to 467 million Euros in 2020.

Actually, Initiative, the agency which realizes the study each year, expects for the TV commercial budget to reach 314 million Euros, a 2% increase as compared to 2020. In the same time, the digital market is expected to grow even more. Last year, the budget allotted to the digital market by the biggest Romanian agencies summed up to 117 million Euros, but here the authors didn’t include the budgets for digital marketing coming from the small agencies or from the marketers who place ads only on the internet.

Meanwhile, the radio and the OOH significantly lost clients and budgets, these channels being affected by the pandemic restrictions. In Romania, radios are listened to while driving, most of the time, and also, the OOH media screens are mostly visible while in traffic. The curfews and the stay-at-home rules left both channels in difficulty.

In 2020 an unexpected player appeared on the Romanian media market: the Government. During the pandemic, the Romanian Government spent 40 million Euros for dedicated campaigns asking people to follow the rules of social distancing. Yet, there were some publications which refused the money, though they qualified for the grants.

A conclusion here: the e-commerce market in Romania will continue to grow in 2021, as it did in 2020. Whether we talk about the shopping over the internet, which are expected to exceed 6 billion Euros in 2021, or about the budgets allotted to promotion, 2021 sounds very good for all those working in the e-commerce or in the internet media industry. Also, the budgets allotted to the radio and the OOH advertisement will slowly get back to their before-pandemic values over the next couple of years.

Media Fact Book is the only report on the Romanian media market and it is realized by Initiative Romania, starting from 1997.

The post Report Shows Media Market in Romania Could Reach EUR 485 M in 2021 appeared first on Valahia.News.

Now they show they kept their promise: eMAG opens its first showroom in Bulgaria, a market they were present from 2012. It seems the expansion is just at the beginning and it could be a sign the retailer wants to conquer the whole Eastern Europe in a short time.

Opening showrooms, especially during this economic crisis, could seem like a risky move, especially for a successful online retailer. But we know eMAG did their homework for sure and if they considered opening showrooms, it means they have a clear goal behind this move.

The post After Hungary, Romanian Biggest Online Retailer eMAG Opens Its First Showroom in Bulgaria appeared first on Valahia.News.

Also this year eMAG plans to open three more units by the end of 2020 and to reach a turnover of EUR 300 million in Hungary. Also, the target for the next 5 years is to reach an annual turnover of EUR 1 B. If this target is accomplished, eMAG will become the largest online Romanian retailer in Hungary and one of the biggest in South Eastern Europe.

This is an opportunity for the Romanian companies as well. The marketplace system used by the e-commerce platform allows the Romanian producers and distributors to sell not only on the Romanian market, but also on the Hungarian market.

The post Romanian Largest E-Commerce Platform Opens Showroom in Budapest appeared first on Valahia.News.

This is a record, as the online shoppers toppled last year’s record by almost 26% in money spent, as last year eMAG reported 31 million Euros sales, and by 43% in terms of transactions, as this year the e-commerce platform registering 338,229 transactions.

The IT&C counted for 46% of the transactions, while eTail for 34.5% and services for almost 9%.

The Romanian e-commerce platform registered 3 million Euro worth of transactions from across the borders, from countries like UK, Bulgaria or Hungary, the value of the cross border transactions increasing by 62% compared to last year.

The post The biggest e-commerce platform in Romania reported record sales for Black Friday: Euro 41.5 mln appeared first on Valahia.News.