23.09.2022

ROMANIA'S DIGITAL ECONOMY COULD GROW 3.5 TIMES AND REACH APPROXIMATELY €52 BILLION IN 2030 (REPORT)

Romania's digital economy could grow 3.5 times to an estimated 52 billion euros in 2030, compared to 14.8 billion euros last year, according to the "Digital Challengers on the Next Frontier" report by McKinsey & Company.

Romania is currently the third market as a digital economy among the ten countries of the "Digital Contenders" ranking, after Poland (€44 billion) and the Czech Republic (€18 billion). In this context, the value is distributed between digital commerce (€9.8 billion), IT&C spending (€3.5 billion) and offline spending on digital products - €1.6 billion.

According to the cited source, digital commerce makes up 66 percent of Romania's digital economy, and IT&C could become a major driver of growth by 2030.

With an estimated value of €52 billion in 2030, Romania's digital economy could account for approximately 9.6 percent of GDP, given that in 2021 digital trade per capita was €506, which is below the average for the region.

The specialized report shows that Romania's digital economy is estimated at 14.8 billion euros in 2021 (approximately 6 percent of GDP), while IT&C investments register an annual increase of 8 percent in the period 2017 - 2021, up to 3 .5 billion euros.

The development of the digital economy can also be seen in terms of small and medium-sized enterprises selling online, with their percentage increasing from 7 percent in 2017 to 17 percent in 2021.

During the reference period, Romania was the second largest digital commerce market in Central and Eastern Europe, amounting to EUR 9.8 billion. However, the average per capita spend on e-commerce and its penetration rate are among the lowest in the region.

Regarding the degree of coverage, the digital segment in Romania represents only 14 percent of the total retail market (€68.9 billion), and the rest is represented by offline trade (€59.1 billion).

Currently, the largest e-commerce categories in Romania are: home and electronic products (39 percent of digital commerce), transport services (31 percent) and the fashion segment (14 percent). On the other hand, during the pandemic, the category with the greatest growth was that of food products, worth €389 million, up from €123 million in 2019.