The local e-commerce market maintains its growth rate, strongly supported by the end of the year

  In the first 9 months of this year, PayU GPO Romania, the leader of local online payment market, registered a 25% increase in processed volumes, compared to the reference interval of 2022. From the point of view of the number of transactions it registered 18% more transactions than in the same period last year.   The volume of payments made through a single click has an accelerated pace of adoption among online consumers, reaching a share of 46% of the total transactions processed in PayU platform in the first 9 months of 2023, increasing by 13% compared to last year.   “In addition to the usual transactions, with a card saved through the PayU system, which starting this year are also processed through the Network Token mechanism provided by the card schemes, merchants in the PayU GPO Romania portfolio were able to offer their customers payment options with one click, via Google Pay and Apple Pay. One of the greatest benefits of these payment options is the simplification of the purchase process, the payment mechanism being fast and secure, does not require the physical presence of a card and benefits from increased security for consumers”, stated Elena Gheorghe, Country Manager of PayU GPO Romania.   Another payment method preferred by Romanians it’s in installments, which at the level of PayU GPO Romania, in the first 9 months of 2023, registered an increase of 50% in terms of the number of transactions and 37% in terms of the value of transactions processed, for installment card transactions and online credit products such as Buy Now Pay Later (30-day payments) and Slice (multi-installment payments). Credit payment solutions such as BNPL and Slice or full online credit offer consumers flexibility in managing their spending and do not require a credit card to access them.   Based on the data traded by PayU GPO Romania in 2023, the average shopping cart in installments is ~3 times larger than a full transaction, card payment in extended installments contributing to the increase of the average value of shopping cart purchases and, by default, of sales concluded on merchants’ websites, where payment in installments can reach up to 30% of all.   The local e-commerce market maintains its growth rate, strongly supported by the end of the year   „The local e-commerce market will maintain its growth rate registered in 2022 and will approach 9.76 billion euros in 2023, 65% representing deliveries of goods (products) and 35% services provided via online”, added Elena Gheorghe.   The most important verticals that supported the advance of the digital commerce market in 2023 remained the traditional ones, IT&C, fashion and home & deco, with significant annual increases coming from verticals such as travel, insurance, entertainment, transport and food & delivery.   According to PayU GPO Romania prediction, reaching the estimated value of the e-commerce market will be strongly supported by the most effervescent time of the year for online shopping, Black Friday 2023, where it is expected, as in the previous year, that the number of online transactions to be 20 times higher than on a typical day, the growth being supported by significant discounts prepared by merchants and the number of extended installments offered by banks to facilitate purchases.