Customers demand such full packages, said Nikolai Beckers, chief executive officer of Telekom Romania group, which has been offering such packages after the shift to the “T” brand in September.
“We believe in convergence above all.” The group is just beginning in this game in Romania and customer feedback is very good. At the end of the day, what the customer wants, Beckers says, is access to services, wherever they might be, at the best speed.
Jean Francois Fallacher, CEO of Orange Romania, said the company would be more active on the TV services market, because it is an important part of the Romanian telecom market. “TV consumption in Romania is double the EU average.”
The market is big, it accounts for one third of the mobile market so it is interesting, Fallacher added.
“Consolidation and mobile-fixed services integration is just beginning in Romania,” said Robert Redeleanu, chief marketing officer of UPC Romania.
As mobility is becoming increasingly important for customers, the cable company launched a network of several thousand Wi-Fi hotspots on Tuesday, which its customers can use.
The Competition Council will be watching the changes on the EUR3.5 billion local communications market will go through, said chairman Bogdan Chiritoiu.
Another topic participants at the ZF Digital ’14 addressed is that an online presence is now mandatory for mortar and brick retailers, even though the number of consumers purchasing something online is still low. An online presence can initially serve as a channel that provides information about products and services, they added.
“The market is growing, everyone wants to buy online. About three million people have already shopped online and there are still seven million left up to the ten million Internet users,” said Dorin Boerescu, CEO of affiliate marketing agency 2Parale.
Targeting customers, personalizing content for each separate customer and quantifying advertising campaigns are much easier to do online, because of the software solutions developed by various companies.
“Consumers mostly access Romanian online stores, where they get Romanian content in Romanian language. We have 17 million consumer profiles and know some 90% of the online shoppers. About 700 sites contribute to a consumer data exchange they can use to understand their audience,” Marius Deak, founder and CEO of GreenPixel & Avandor in turn said.
Brick and mortar retailers like Carrefour and Cora in 2013 and more recently Mobexpert and Mega Image in partnership with eMag decided to try online commerce to comply with the current technology trends on their market.
“We managed to blend the brick and mortar retail with online retail and that is not easy. Our main goal was to get to know the customers, see what they know to be able to come up with a more targeted approach, using the Cora card, as well, which is valid online, too, to do that,” said Claudia Mirica, who supervises the Cora Drive service.
“We know what customers buy, how they buy, how often, we know what products each customer picked. It’s hard to get information after two months, but the number of orders has reached 50 per day. Online shopping cart value is three times higher than in the hypermarket.”
As for the Mega Image supermarket chain and online retailer eMag partnership, the vice-president and CEO of the latter, Violeta Luca, said orders range in the hundreds every day and most customers request home delivery. eMag’s sales are up 50% so far and the company hopes the growth will be even higher by yearend, Violeta Luca added.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)