The Romanian e-commerce market did not boast the growth rate that the main industry players were hoping for, but it did grow by a double-digit figure in the first nine months of the year.
Antonio Eram, founder and CEO of Netopia mobilPay, one of the leading processors of online payments through bank cards, says the market is growing in terms of values, but there are logistical problems.
“We don’t boast five-digit growth anymore and this is normal. What we are seeing is a more analytical approach of e-commerce. Whereas at the end of last year we were talking about tens of websites opened, now everybody is facing logistical problems,” says Eram.
In turn, Cristi Herghelegiu, CEO of PayU, says after the first nine months of the year the value of the business he runs rose sufficiently for this to be considered an uninterrupted trend.
The Romanian e-commerce market has grown significantly in Romania both on terms of value and in terms of number of players. Herghelegiu says a consolidation process has started to be noticed on the market, with big websites growing and small ones disappearing.
Electronic commerce is one of the most dynamic niches of IT, say players in the industry, who see growth potential for online services.
“The online payment of bills has huge potential because it addresses the mass market, but it is not promoted,” believes Gabriel Ghita, business development manager for CEE of MasterCard Europe. According to him, Romanians spend around EUR600-700 million per year in e-commerce on cards. The volume growth rate is 20-30% a year and in a year or a maximum two years spending will exceed EUR1 billion.
However, although the online sector has grown significantly in the past few years, Catalin Cretu, general manager of VISA Romania, says over 50-60% of Romanians never made a card payment and 80-85% of them never made an online payment.
Adrian Cioroianu, business development manager of Intel Corporation, says ultrabook sales are in line with expectations, but that Romania is very price-sensitive. An ultrabook costs around RON3,000-3,500 (EUR130-150).
Sales of ultrabooks amount to “several thousand units” per quarter because their prices continue to be quite high. But Cioroianu says prices of the first models launched have fallen to as little as RON2,500.
The Romanian computer market will stagnate this year in terms of number of units sold, at around 700,000 units, estimates Aurel Netin, country manager of Lenovo Romania, Bulgaria and the Republic of Moldova. He says Romanians continue to buy very cheap computers, priced between RON1,300 and RON2,000.
Sorin Manea, telecom division manager Romania & Bulgaria of Samsung Electronics, believes the mobile phone market will stagnate or see a slight decline in terms of volume against preceding years.
“But things are different in terms of value. The share of smartphones to the overall market is on a steady rise. It is known that smartphones have greater value, so things are different in terms of value,” says Manea.
As for the value of the software market, Eugen Schwab Chesaru, managing partner for Eastern Europe of Pierre Audoin Consultants, believes it could decline to EUR700 million this year because this industry has lost a lot in terms of quality and interest.
Alin Niscov, sales manager at Romanian-held Allview, concludes that Romanian companies selling PC tablets under their own brand hold almost 40% of the tablet PC market, while Apple has a 23% market share in terms of units sold.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)