E-Commerce Turnover Reaches 69.5 Mio EUR In 9 Months Online Payments Gain Momentum In Romania

Online payments by credit or debit card gained substance in the first nine months of the year, totalling 69.5 million EUR, up by a substantial 75 per cent from the corresponding period of 2008, according to electronic payment processor RomCard. The number of transactions performed between January and September 2009 is approximately 886,000, nearly two-fold more than in the first nine months of 2008.

Romanians preferred to use their card to pay online for telecom services (invoices, pre-pay credit, mobile phones and accessories), vacation packages, plane tickets and various services, such as insurance and classifieds.

The ePayment platform operated by RomCard managed 784,000 transactions with a total value in excess of 65 million EUR for the first nine months of the year.

Payments made by card to online shops using the ePayment platform increased by 7 per cent in the third quarter of the year, compared to the second quarter of the year, whereas the average value of a transaction also increased, from 77 EUR in the first quarter of 2009 to 88 EUR in the third quarter of 2009. The average value of a transaction calculated for the first nine months of the year is 83 EUR, similar to the 84 EUR per transaction calculated as an average for 2008.

"The figures for the past few months tell us that electronic commerce still has significant growth potential in Romania, even during more difficult periods," said RomCard CEO Marin Mitroi. "Moreover, such progress proves that Romanians are becoming increasingly familiar with online shopping, so our forecast for the entire year 2009 is 93 million EUR as an overall transaction value and 1,200,000 transactions," Mitroi added.