Romanian online market grows by 30% this year. Foods still account for a small share | Progresiv

The e-commerce market in Romania will grow to 3.6 billion euros this year, up by 30% from 2017, according to data from the Romanian Online Stores Association (ARMO).

According to ARMO, 8.28 million Romanians will shop online this year, up from 7.7 million in 2017. Moreover, out of a population of 12.6 million Romanians aged 16 to 65 years, 11 million have access to the Internet. Thus Romania has 38% eShoppers, compared to Greece (36%), Italy (34%) and Croatia (29%).

Another aspect highlighted by ARMO is related to doubling the number of online stores from 7,000 stores in 2017 to 14,000 this year.

Regarding the biggest opportunities in the online shopping area, they come from electro IT, fashion, home & deco, toys, home and garden and baby products. Asked about the share held by grocery retail and FMCG in the total online market, Florinel Chis, President of ARMO, said the percentage is still low, but there is potential for growth with the entry of major international retailers on this segment. "An important challenge for food players is logistics", said Florinel Chis.

Currently, Carrefour, Mega Image and Cora are the only international retailers with online stores.