Romania adopts the highest rate of payment with phones among CEE countries, new study says

A new regional study conducted by Visa reveals Romanians’ preference for paying through mobile phones. Among eight CEE (Central and Eastern European) countries, Romania has the highest adoption rate of payment through mobile phones, with 7 out of 10 Romanians using their mobiles for shopping and online payments and 1 in 3 using their phone to pay for goods in stores.

The study was conducted in Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, and Croatia in partnership with data analytics firm Kantar. It was conducted among 1,000 respondents in each country, aged between 18 and 65.

The latest cashless habit comes from its speedy and comfortable nature that allows users to purchase anything with just a simple click.

The same study also reveals that 83% of Romanian consumers opt to look for their desired products and services on their phones, 79% order goods or services using mobile devices, and 81% pay using these devices. They add their cards to applications in the categories of food delivery (46%), transport (39%), travel (35%), and streaming platform applications (35%).

Visa said it invested over USD 10 billion in network security in the past five years and blocked USD 7.2 billion worth of fraudulent payment attempts.

“When someone enters their card details into a mobile wallet on a device, Visa replaces them with a unique set of numbers. This technology is called tokenization and provides an additional level of security,” Elena Ungureanu, Visa’s country manager for Romania, explains.

“Not only are mobile payments secure, but they are easy to use even by those with basic knowledge of using mobile devices.”

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