Geopost report 2023: e-commerce in Romania is in decline after the boom in 2021. 7 out of 10 Romanian regulars are buying on foreign websites, mostly from China.

As with the downward trend of European e-commerce, a decline is observed in Romania. After the increase in the number of Romanian e-shoppers in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic, the trend has reversed this year (-4 pts in 2023), according to E-SHOPPER BAROMETER 2023 report released by Geopost

However, the share of regular e-shoppers is in a positive trend. Regular e-shoppers account for more than half of e-shoppers and they received more parcels in the last month than in 2022.

While Romanian regulars are smaller online buyers than their European peers in terms of frequency, they buy a wider set of product categories, purchasing more than 6 product categories in 2023. They purchase less overtime on the internet the category of high tech/electronics.

Regular e-shoppers remain deeply convinced by the benefits of online shopping, even more than European average. Compared to 2021, however, they are less convinced of the convenience of online shopping.

Foreign vs local

This year again, 7 out of 10 Romanian regulars are buying on foreign websites, mainly to benefit from better deals, and secondly to find products not available in their country – but far less than the European peers. As in the last years, purchases on foreign websites are mostly made from China and from European countries.

E-Shopper Barometer 2023 – Methodology
Sample
18+ y.o. European e-shoppers who have ordered physical goods online since January and then, received at least one parcel, identified within a sample representative of the national population in age, gender, and SEC. For the consolidated results at European level, a weight was applied to each country in order to reflect the right proportion of e-shoppers between the European countries.

Key targets

Regular e-shoppers: E-shoppers aged 18 to 70 years old, who buy at least one product category every month online.

Aficionados: 15% of the total e-shoppers with the highest number of annual online purchases.