Romanian e-shopping
In August 2014 Gemius conducted the eCommerce study, whose purpose was to identify the usage preferences of Romanian internet users when it comes to online commerce. The study analyses Romanians’ buying habits, the types of e-shops they like, the advantages and disadvantages they perceive when it comes to online shopping, preferred methods of payment and delivery, categories of products bought online and the value of their acquisitions.
According to the survey, more than 2/3 of Romanian internet users have bought something online in the past and more than 2/3 of those who haven’t are planning to do it in the future. Also, 41 per cent of those who took part in the study stated that they used the internet to find stores they visited afterwards. Furthermore, 28 per cent paid their bills online and 16 per cent have bought something from foreign sites. The most used type of e-commerce site among Romanian e-shoppers is web shops – 83 per cent of users have personally tried them. On the second place we find listing sites (45 per cent), on the 3rd group buying sites (32 per cent) and on the 4th - price comparison sites (29 per cent).
According to the participants of the study, the main advantages of online commerce are: home delivery (74 per cent), the fact they don’t have to leave their homes (61 per cent) and lower prices than in traditional stores (53 per cent). On the other hand, as disadvantages they state high delivery costs (31 per cent) and problems with products’ warranty (19 per cent).
What could motivate them to buy more? Money makes the world go round for Romanian e-shoppers as the top most cited motivating factors for increased online shopping are lower prices (59 per cent), lower shipping costs (54 per cent) and extra discounts for online buyers (52 per cent).
What about product categories? Romanians mainly buy online clothes and accessories (58 per cent), consumer electronics (47 per cent), movies, books and music (44 per cent), and gadgets such as smartphones and tablets (42 per cent). Based on users’ interest in future purchases, electronic products will continue to dominate the e-commerce scene, while interest in previously dominant categories will suffer from disillusionment by customers: clothing and accessories (-18pp), computer and hardware (-11pp), books, film and music (-7pp). While interest in clothing and accessories is declining among experienced e-shoppers, for those with no previous online shopping experience, it ranked as the most interesting category, followed by electronics categories. It can be said that clothes and electronics are the “gateway products” to online shopping.
By far the most preferred payment option of Romanian e-shoppers is cash on delivery – 4 in 5 users indicating it among their preferred options. Not surprisingly, delivery via courier service ranks highest among all other delivery options, but Romanian users don’t reject delivery methods specific to certain products, such as digital delivery.
When it comes to the amount spent online, an average shopping cart is valued at 470 RON (a little over 100 euros), while the average annual amount spent online per user reaches 2,260 RON. According to the study, in the future we can expect some growth in the e-commerce segment, with 40 per cent of current online shoppers anticipating an increase in their spending.
What are the most popular online shops? According to the results and depending on the total number of mentions, eMag.ro was the favorite website of Romanian online shoppers in 2014, with OLX.ro and Tocmai.ro taking 2nd and 3rd place, respectively.
The complete study can be downloaded for free using the following link.
Methodology: The analysis was made on a sample of 1200 respondents. The sample was adjusted using weights for gender, age, place of living and education. The sample is representative for 15+ Romanian internet users. The research was carried out using CAWI pop-up questionnaire method. The questionnaires were gathered between 2014 08 08 – 2014 09 03.
