Loading ...E-commerce in Romania is witnessing expansion times. With an annual growth rate in excess of 40% so far this year, the e-commerce business might overshot the 50-million-euro mark, a value from which transactions that are not performed on electronic banking cards but by cash on delivery or banking transfers, are excluded.
Payments on card are now accessible virtually to everybody. As of end-2007, there were 10 million cards in use, according to data with the National Bank of Romania (BNR), and the number is estimated to increase by some 500,000 in 2008. Romanians are said to have performed 448,779 e-commerce transactions in 2007, and the number of such transactions is said to have reached 298,868 in the first half of 2008.
There are approximately 2,000 shops in Romania carrying on-line business, but only some of them accept on-line payments. There are two e-transaction processing methods in use involving cards: 3D Secure (an Internet-based payment system under which transactions are performed by aid of a username and a password, initiated by Visa and MasterCard), and Secure Socket Layer (SSL), an older and less secure standard, which nonetheless has a wider coverage.
Total on-line transactions on cards conducted in the first half of 2008 neared 26 million euros, compared with 35 million euros in the entire year 2007 and 9.5 million in the entire year 2006. Out of the 26 million euros in the first half of 2008, 15.75 million euros were generated by eurodenominated cards, and most of the transactions originated abroad.
GECAD ePayment PR&Communication Manager Iuliana Butuc-Cerchez told weekly Capital that the weight of the Internet sales could reach even 90% of the total sales, compared with only 5% in the case of on-line shops, such as eMag.ro. "More than 80% of the total of Wizz Air bookings is performed on line," says Wizz Air Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Director Natasa Kazmer.
Analysts say large transaction volumes in Romania’s e-commerce are generated, in the declining order, by mobile phone bill servicing, IT&C product acquisitions, and the acquisitions of electronics and electric home appliances.
Experts have tried to put a value to the entire e-commerce market of Romania, including in the final value other payment methods than payment on cards. The weight of transactions on cards in the total of Romania’s e-commerce is estimated at 5%, by Link 2 eCommerce, and at 15% by GECAD, which, given the estimated 50 million euros of the 2008 e-commerce, would give a market value somewhere in the province of 1 billion euro. Given that the weight of the payments on card on the largest value segment (travel services and flight bookings) is at least 80%, the estimates closest to the real thing would be the GECAD’s estimates, says weekly Capital.
Despite its early stage of development, the Romanian e-commerce market is taking huge strides toward professionalisation. For instance, there is an e-commerce awards ceremony on October 3 and participation in it entails rigorous evaluation criteria applied by the people of the industry and a site audit. Among the main criteria there are the posting and highlighting of price and all additional fees/costs; product guarantee; the means of delivery, costs and time; the means for acquiring the products on hire purchasing, if available; the possibility to compare similar products; product images of high quality and resolution; auxiliary instruments (live help, quick contact addresses, instant feedback, call centre, SMS alerts); information about the conduct and security of on-line transactions on card.
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