"We can estimate that the e-commerce market currently stands at EUR250 million, and online store officials see online sales reaching EUR1 billion in the next two years, excluding services, namely tourism and online payment of bills,” ANC president Liviu Nistoran said in a press release Tuesday.
Romania currently has about 900 active online stores, most of which sell IT&C products, the study found.
Computer games, toys, flowers, watches and show tickets are sold in 30% of online stores in Romania, while 10% sell books and information and another 10% sell clothing items and footwear. Nearly 5% of all Romanian websites are in the e-commerce business.
"Most people who shopped on the internet said they used Romanian online stores and only 3% of the respondents said they used foreign online stores exclusively, and that reveals Romanian internet shoppers trust local e-commerce websites,” Nistoran said.
The study reveals 72% of people who shopped online in the past 12 months returned to buy more products, and 21% of the respondents had problems with online stores.
The communication regulator said it is looking to work with the industry for the creation of an alternative system to solve disputes between online shoppers and stores, to build up users’ confidence in e-commerce.
The study, conducted by Link 2 eCommerce, polled 6,095 internet users and 51 online store officials.