Study: Romania’s e-commerce market up 40% to EUR 6 bln in 2020

Romania's e-commerce market will reach about EUR 6 billion in 2020, at least 40% more compared to 2019, according to estimates revealed in a study conducted by iSense Solutions for the GPeC summit - the annual event dedicated to the local e-commerce industry, quoted by Ziarul Financiar.

In the pandemic context, the number of Romanians shopping online increased by 13% this year compared to 2019, and the average value spent on online shopping went up by 41% compared to 2019.

The fastest evolution in terms of online sales was recorded by catering services (delivery of cooked food), with an increase of 124% compared to 2019.

As a result of behavioral changes due to the pandemic, other categories of products recorded sales growth well above the 2019 average as well - such as books and magazines (+113%), pet shop goods (+113%), and FMCG (+110%).

Fast delivery applications gained ground during this period, with almost half (45%) of survey respondents mentioning that they used a delivery application for online shopping or ordering at least once, and 27% of them used the applications at least once per week.

Regarding the shopping behavior in physical stores, 43% of respondents said they feel uncomfortable shopping in traditional stores because they are too crowded (71%) and do not follow the distancing rules (68%).

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