Romania E-Commerce Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends & Forecasts (2025 - 2030)

Romania E-commerce Market Trends and Insights

Expansion of Same-day Delivery Infrastructure Across Bucharest & Tier-2 Cities

Romania’s last-mile upgrade is centered on Sameday’s 2,700 automated lockers, slated to reach 4,500 units by year-end, 200 of which run on solar power.^{[2]Ziarul Financiar, “Sameday mizează pe easybox-urile care își produc propria energie,” zf.ro} Twenty percent of eMAG parcels in Bucharest already use these lockers, with 85% picked up inside 24 hours and 20.5% lower CO₂ emissions compared with door-to-door service.^{[3]Wall-Street.ro, “eMAG: 20% din livrările din București au loc prin easybox,” wall-street.ro} Poșta Română counters with EUR 40 million (USD 43.6 million) for 3,000 digital mailboxes, broadening coverage to rural settlements. Dense locker footprints lower delivery fees to a fixed RON 9.99, reduce failed deliveries, and in turn heighten consumer switching costs. Tier-2 urban centers gain relative advantage as new infrastructure compresses fulfilment times, attracting additional Romania e-commerce market entrants.

EU-funded Rural Broadband Roll-out Under National Recovery Plan

The RO-NET initiative deploys 3,265 km of fiber to 783 localities, providing gigabit access to 400,000 residents and 8,500 businesses through EUR 57.1 million (USD 62.3 million) EU funding. Household internet penetration in rural Romania stands at 83.2%, trailing 92.5% in cities, yet the nation ranks third in the EU for fiber-to-the-home coverage at 97.7%. E-commerce adoption in newly connected communes accelerates as broadband removes a principal barrier, while courier players extend networks to harvest untapped demand. First movers gain loyalty advantages as rural shoppers build platform and wallet habits that are costly to shift.

Rapid Adoption of Digital Wallets Boosting Checkout Conversion

Revolut users in Romania hold EUR 1.2 billion (USD 1.3 billion) in deposits, a 56% rise year on year, processing EUR 9.96 billion in annual volume across 4.3 million customers. Banca Transilvania’s BT Pay recorded 16% more transactions in Q1 2025, adding 130,000 clients. Instant disbursement and integrated lending shrink checkout abandonment and unlock micro-subscription models. Salt Bank’s EUR 80-100 million (USD 86-108 million) fully digital play targets 1 million users within three years, intensifying wallet competition. High wallet penetration boosts the Romania e-commerce market conversion funnel and complements BNPL uptake.

Seamless Intra-EU Customs-free Shopping Enabling Cross-border Spend

iBanFirst processed EUR 660 million (USD 720 million) in cross-border payments for Romanian SMEs in H1 2024, up 203% year on year, reflecting merchants’ regional appetite. Streamlined customs procedures trim clearance times, though only 10% use simplified filings against an EU mean of 65.6%. Domestic champions such as eMAG leverage VAT compliance know-how to list EU-wide assortments without burdening shoppers with unexpected duties, a differentiation point that sways purchase decisions toward local sites inside the Romania e-commerce market.

High Delivery Costs and Limited Logistics Coverage in Rural Communes

Courier fees often exceed 20-30% of basket value for low-ticket items in remote areas, curbing order frequency even as rural disposable income is climbing on stronger farm revenues and remittances. Poșta Română’s 3,000 digital mailbox plan is a step forward, yet roll-out stretches through 2025 and coverage gaps remain. Until density reaches break-even levels, carriers will price rural services at a premium, suppressing the Romania e-commerce market’s rural addressable volume.

Persistent COD Preference Driving Return Rates and Fraud Risk

Cash-on-delivery still represents 60-65% of online orders, leading to inflated return rates and an extended cash cycle that stresses merchant liquidity. Digital wallet uptake is brisk among affluent urban cohorts, yet bank account penetration is forecast to reach only 78% by 2025, prolonging COD reliance. Revolut Pay Later and TBI Bank BNPL options soften resistance, but adoption is presently confined to tech-savvy groups. Without trust-building initiatives, the Romania e-commerce market endures higher fraud screening costs and inventory write-backs.

Segment Analysis

By Business Model: B2B Digitalization Accelerates Despite B2C Dominance

The B2C channel captured 85.03% of 2024 transaction value, underscoring its central role in the Romania e-commerce market share. In parallel, mandatory RO e-Factura rules bring every VAT-liable firm onto electronic invoicing, catalyzing a 9.61% CAGR for B2B platforms through 2030. The Romania e-commerce market size for B2B solutions is expected to swell as EUR 1.5 billion (USD 1.6 billion) in EU recovery grants subsidize SME digitization.

B2C leaders eMAG, Altex, and Flanco compete on breadth of assortment, last-mile optionality, and loyalty programs, while B2B contenders emphasize ERP links, multi-supplier catalogues, and tax workflows. BCR’s George processes 87% of retail products digitally and has extended corporate lending to RON 10.5 billion (USD 2.3 billion), displaying convergence between consumer and enterprise propositions. Suppliers that master compliance automation stand to win long-term contracts, securing recurring invoices that enhance cash-flow predictability inside the Romania e-commerce industry.

By Device Type: Mobile Commerce Maturity Enables Emerging Device Growth

Smartphones commanded 74.23% of 2024 orders, illustrating advanced mobile adoption inside the Romania e-commerce market. Larger screens remain preferred for high-ticket goods, but mobile is indispensable for rural buyers whose first broadband experience is 4G or 5G. The emerging device cluster—smart TVs, voice assistants, and IoT appliances—will scale at 11.04% CAGR, though from a small base, giving retailers a sandbox to test ambient commerce without cannibalizing core channels.

Mobile momentum is rooted in wallet ergonomics and single-click checkout that lower cart abandonment. Revolut app sessions underpin 88% of the firm’s fast-growing loan book, evidencing crossover between payments and credit. As smart home penetration rises, retailers integrating replenishment APIs into connected fridges or washing machines will capture incremental traffic streams. Yet voice commerce adoption is tempered by natural-language processing constraints in Romanian; overcoming those barriers will be critical to unlocking the next wave of Romania e-commerce market expansion.

By Payment Method: Digital Transformation Challenges Traditional Preferences

Credit and debit cards held 46.05% of checkouts in 2024, but BNPL is primed for a 12.24% CAGR through 2030, propelled by Klarna’s entry and by local incumbents scaling installment products. BNPL traction signals a gradual break with COD, especially among millennials seeking budget predictability. The Romania e-commerce market size attached to wallets such as Revolut and BT Pay grows in lockstep with mobile transaction share, reflecting successful gamification and savings features.

Payment breadth becomes a strategic lever: merchants that embed instant payments, wallets, cards, and BNPL on the same screen curtail drop-off across demographic cohorts. Meanwhile, COD persists in rural zones where banking penetration lags. Firms that invest in doorstep card terminals or dynamic QR codes mitigate fraud and reduce reconcilement lag, improving working capital rotation within the Romania e-commerce industry.

Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase

By B2C Product Category: Food Delivery Disrupts Fashion Leadership

Fashion retained a 32.06% slice of 2024 revenue, but food and beverages is projected to accelerate at 11.07% CAGR, reshaping demand patterns inside the Romania e-commerce market. Wolt’s takeover of Tazz injects global capital into quick-commerce, aligning with eMAG’s Genius subscription to cross-sell grocery, restaurant, and general merchandise. 

Consumer electronics remains sizeable via Altex and eMAG, while beauty and personal care growth is fueled by influencer marketing and omnichannel rollouts from dm and incoming BIPA. Penny’s EUR 1 billion (USD 1.1 billion) digitization plan, including autonomous stores, illustrates brick-and-mortar chains adopting online workflows to protect share. The Romania e-commerce market now affords category specialists the chance to carve defensible niches through curated assortment, bundled delivery, and category-specific BNPL plans that match replenishment cycles.

Geography Analysis

Bucharest-Ilfov registers 95.2% household internet coverage and hosts the densest courier locker network, generating roughly 63% of ICT turnover, making it the epicenter of the Romania e-commerce market. Tier-2 hubs—Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara, and Constanța—benefit from EUR 69 million (USD 75 million) broadband projects that drive service reliability and foster start-up ecosystems. In these cities, Sameday’s solar-backed lockers and Trendyol’s new warehouse in Ștefănești compress delivery to next-day standards, reinforcing consumer expectations that spill into adjacent counties.

Rural communities, home to 46% of Romanians, grapple with high logistics surcharges and sporadic courier coverage, even as fiber penetration reaches 83.2%. Poșta Română’s digital mailbox deployment focuses on these areas, but rollout pace and monetization clarity remain open. Merchants who bundle multiple orders into consolidated weekly rural routes or who partner with village co-ops for pick-up points can lower fulfilment cost per unit and expand the Romania e-commerce market addressable base.

Romania’s EU location also underpins regional ambitions. Cross-border payment volume gains of 203% in H1 2024 speak to merchants using Romania as a launchpad for southeastern Europe. eMAG’s expansion into Hungary and Bulgaria, and planned entry into five additional EU states following the Extreme Digital merger, underscores a strategy of exporting know-how forged in a demanding home market. As regulatory frameworks align across member states, the Romania e-commerce market can project brands outward while importing assortment inward without customs deadweight, strengthening its role as a regional e-commerce corridor.