Romanian consumers annually spend around EUR1.3 billion on electro-IT products, with the online segment accounting for around 24% of sales.
“Both our graphs and global tendencies make us believe the online will continue to grow for years from now on,” said Tiberiu Pop, general manager of Corsar Online, the company that operates the cel.ro store.
“The penetration of smartphones and tablets and the rising financial power of the Facebook generation are just two reasons that make us upbeat about the future,” Pop told ZF.
Mihai Patrascu, chief executive officer of IT&C online retailer evoMag, also forecasts a “very good year for e-commerce,” with the online market due to advance by 15%-20% at the end of 2014.
The upward tendency of the market is also pointed to by Dan Dumitrescu, general manager of Elka-Oktal group, which manages octal.ro, novashop.ro and comenzipc.ro.
“I expect market growth of 10%-15% in 2014, which could be smaller or higher, though, depending on whether consumers see the crisis as ending or deepening,” Dumitrescu said.
The main factors that may hurt IT&C retailers’ businesses are the dwindling purchasing power, foreign exchange rate fluctuations and the new taxes, according to the managers of online electro-IT businesses.
Another risk, specific to e-commerce, is related to price errors, according to Tiberiu Pop. Social networks also contribute to the rapid spread of such errors.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)