eCommerce market in Romania

Romania is the 44th largest market for eCommerce with a predicted revenue of US$6,780.6 million by 2024, placing it ahead of the United Arab Emirates. Revenue is expected to show a compound annual growth rate (CAGR 2024-2028) of 7.4%, resulting in a projected market volume of US$9,009.3 million by 2028. With an expected increase of 9.2% in 2024, the Romanian eCommerce market contributed to the worldwide growth rate of 10.4% in 2024. Like in Romania, global eCommerce sales are expected to increase over the next years. Seven markets are considered by ECDB within the Romanian eCommerce market. Hobby & Leisure is the largest market and accounts for 27.2% of the Romanian eCommerce revenue. It is followed by Electronics with 20.2%, Fashion with 16.5%, Furniture & Homeware with 11.8%, Care Products with 9.5%, DIY with 9.0%, and Grocery with the remaining 5.8%.

The online share refers to the proportion of the retail volume that is transacted via the Internet. It includes purchases via desktop PC, tablet or smartphone, both via website or app. Only retail of physical goods is taken into account. In the Romanian retail market, the online share is 6.8% and will increase by an average of 6.2% to 8.7% by 2028.

The biggest player in the Romanian eCommerce market is emag.ro. The store had a revenue of US$787.0 million in 2023. Store rankings include every store that generates revenue in Romania. These stores can either have a national focus and only sell in their main country or operate on a global scale. For this evaluation, only revenue created in Romania was considered.

The Romanian eCommerce market in 2023 in terms of offered payment methods is fragmented and highly competitive with VISA (Cards) covering the largest share with 88.3% of all online stores checked. Other offered payment methods in the Romanian eCommerce market in 2023 are Mastercard (Cards) with 86.9%, Cash on delivery (Cash on delivery) with 85.5%, and Invoice (unknown) with 60.7%. With 48.3% Bank transfer/cash in advance (Bank transfer) still has a considerable market share amongst the offered payment methods compared to VISA (Cards).

Despite Fan Courier's dominant position with 50.0% of online stores opting for its services, the Romanian eCommerce market in 2023 remains diverse and competitive. Several other shipping service providers, including Urgent Cargus, Sameday Yourway, DPD, and GLS, hold smaller but significant shares, contributing to a dynamic and fragmented market.