Study: Online retail to rise by 15% this year in Romania

The volume of trade generated by e-commerce will keep rising and record an annual increase rate of at least 15% this year, providing a robust growth context to the local stores, VTEX Romania estimates in a report.

Romania is undergoing a stage of accelerated digitalization, with direct effects on traditional retail that will increasingly migrate to online channels.

"Currently there are a maximum of 100 online stores on the local market that receive over 1,000 orders per day, but in the next 3 years their number will triple," said Cristi Movila, Growth Leader Eastern Europe VTEX, Adevarul reported.

He expects to see a greater acceleration and a strong increase in investments in digitalization, technology and services of established players in the field. Also, in the medium term, the VTEX representative estimates that the market will concentrate around marketplaces, the global trend being to consolidate the shopping cart in one place.

"Consumers will have favorite shopping destinations and will want to make all purchases in one place," said Cristi Movila.

Malls will focus on omnichannel strategies and business models to support the trade affected by the pandemic and ensure the survival of the sector.

"While before the pandemic many retailers privileged their own sales channels, for better control of the customer and brand experience, now the marketplaces become a very good solution for medium and small retailers. On the other hand, we will witness the emergence of new marketplaces, supported by large retailers, which are entering the advanced stage of development and want to offer customers access to a wide range of products,” reads the VTEX analysis.

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