“While there used to be very many small players on this market or some giants that rose from small to medium to large such as eMag, last year saw a surge in retailers that opened e-commerce channels, which will continue in other fields – DIY, pharmacy chains and services sector, this year,” Stefan Iarca, country manager of Carnation Group part of Possible agency, held by UK media group WPP.
After computer and electronics, the most developed online retail segment, major mortar and bricks store chains have taken the e-commerce route in the last two years, such as grocery retail chains Carrefour, Cora and Mega Image (in partnership with eMag) and fashion retailers – Spain’s Inditex (Stradivarius, Bershka, Pull&Bear, Zara, Massimo Dutti). Online sales in Romania are estimated at about one billion euros a year.
“Electronic commerce is a vector that is developing in full gear in Romania now and large companies are making investments in it,” Iarca added.
He has been in charge of the local operations of Carnation Group for three years, a company established in Budapest sixteen years ago. UK’s media giant WPP bought Carnation Group in 2012 and the group fully migrated to the Possible brand this year.
The company designs and implements digital communication strategies for various brands, and develops applications and games. Carnation Group regional customers include Telenor, the second largest telecom in Hungary, Generali, MOL and Shell and its customers in Romania include Carrefour online, Air France-KLM, Sanofi-Aventis, Accenture.
The digital agency generates about 60% of Possible’s revenue, with the mobile applications and games division being the latest addition to the business. Carnation Group posted almost 5 million (about EUR1.1 million) revenue in Romania in 2013, according to Finance Ministry data.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)