Last updated: April 2026
Almost three in four internet users in Romania bought something online in 2024 - 72.9%, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INS), figures confirmed by ARMO, Wall-Street.ro and Economica.net. With internet penetration at 94% (DataReportal 2025), Romania is no longer an emerging eCommerce market. If you run or plan an online store here, knowing how Romanian shoppers actually behave matters more than any general best-practice list.
How many Romanians buy online, and how often
INS figures for 2024 show that 72.9% of internet users in Romania made at least one online purchase in the previous 12 months. In absolute terms: 5.9 million Romanians bought online in the first quarter of 2025 (Economedia, Digi24, Business Review).
The frequency is what stands out. 51% of online shoppers had made a purchase in the past week (Business Review, Revista Biz, B1TV - three sources). This is no longer a market of occasional buyers: more than half of Romanian online shoppers buy something every week.
The average basket on an ordinary day is RON 690, roughly EUR 138 (Bursa.ro, Economica.net, Revista Biz). During promotional periods such as Black Friday or the Christmas season, that figure climbs well above the everyday average.
What Romanians buy online - categories and shares
INS data for 2024, confirmed by ARMO, gives the following ranking of product categories bought online in Romania:
| Product category | Share of online shoppers | 2025 trend |
|---|---|---|
| Clothing, footwear, accessories | 78.6% | Under pressure from international platforms |
| Restaurant delivery and catering | 36.4% | Flat |
| Cosmetics and personal care | 34.5% | Growing |
| Sports goods | 20.8% | Flat |
| Medicines and supplements | 16.7% | Growing fast |
| Home appliances and electronics | 15.8% | Growing |
Pharma and electro-IT posted the strongest growth in 2025, while local fashion retailers feel the squeeze from international platforms. Fashion is not shrinking online - the competition simply got harder, and differentiation matters more than it used to.
Where they shop from - devices and the pull of social media
Devices
Statcounter data for 2025 puts mobile at 51-53% of all web traffic in Romania. Romanians browse mostly on their phones, but orders are placed on both: desktop conversion rates remain higher than mobile, a pattern seen across Europe.
What that means in practice: a store has to be good on both. Browsing on mobile has to be smooth, because that is where discovery and research happen, and checkout has to be short and predictable everywhere. Mobile-first design with a checkout tested on every screen size is the practical answer.
How social media shapes the decision
Figures from 2025 (Revista Biz, Mediafax, B1TV - three sources) show that 75% of Romanian online shoppers are influenced by social media when deciding what to buy. By platform:
- Facebook: 69% researched or bought after seeing a product there
- Instagram: 45%
- TikTok: 40%
- YouTube: 33%
One number is worth pausing on: trust in AI recommendations sits at just 16%, and trust in influencers at 6% (Mediafax 2025). Social media works as a discovery channel in Romania. It does not work as a source of authority.
How Romanians prefer to receive their parcels
The shift towards parcel lockers has been fast. ANCOM data for 2024 shows that one in five parcels is already delivered through an automated system. A Sameday study from October 2024 (800 respondents, CAWI methodology) found that 58% of urban consumers prefer a locker to home delivery.
The reasons are practical:
- Open 24/7 - you do not have to be home at a particular hour
- Safer - the parcel is not left at the door or with a neighbour
- Flexible - you collect when it suits you, within 48 to 72 hours
- First-attempt success rate of 100% - the "nobody was home" problem disappears
Romania now has more than 8,200 automated parcel machines (ANCOM 2024), 42% more than in 2023.
What shoppers expect on delivery time
Aggregated figures from Curierul National, Economica and Innoship (three sources):
- 44% of online shoppers accept a delivery time under one week
- 32% consider three days the maximum
Delivery in 24 to 48 hours is no longer a competitive edge - it is the baseline expectation for a third of buyers. Stores that cannot promise three days lose a meaningful slice of demand before the basket is even built.
For the operators behind those lockers and how they connect to an eCommerce platform, see our comparison of couriers for online stores in Romania.
Urban versus rural - the gap is closing
One of the more interesting trends of the past two years is that online shopping is growing faster in rural areas than in cities. INS data for 2024 and 2025:
| Area | Online shoppers 2024 | Online shoppers 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urban | 77.1% | 77.6% | +0.5 pp |
| Rural | 67.3% | 70.6% | +3.3 pp |
Sources: INS (primary), with Economedia, Romania Libera and Digi24 confirming the 2025 figures.
Rural adoption is growing six times faster than urban. The ten-point gap between the two is narrowing year on year. The most active region is still Bucharest and Ilfov county, which accounts for roughly 64.1% of total online purchase volume (INS and Sameday data).
For a store owner, the takeaway is that rural buyers are becoming a serious audience. Categories with clear rural demand - building materials, agricultural supplies, home appliances, clothing - have room to grow through the online channel.
What these figures mean for your online store
None of this is abstract. Each number points to a decision you will have to make when you build or run a store in Romania:
- 51% buy weekly - keeping existing customers is worth as much as finding new ones; email marketing and push notifications pay for themselves quickly
- 75% are influenced by social media - for visual categories such as fashion, cosmetics or home decor, a Facebook and Instagram presence is not optional
- 58% prefer a locker - integrating with the locker networks is a requirement, not an extra
- 32% want delivery within three days - local stock and a courier with national coverage become critical
- Rural is growing six times faster - if your products suit rural demand, geographic targeting in paid campaigns is worth testing
- Average basket of RON 690 - buy now, pay later can lift that figure noticeably on higher-priced items
Building a store that answers those behaviours - mobile-first, fast checkout, locker integration, instalments available - is exactly what we cover step by step in our complete guide to launching an online store in Romania.
The wider market picture - turnover, payment methods, legislation - sits in our guide to the Romanian eCommerce market in 2026.
Frequently asked questions about Romanian online shoppers
Do Romanians still pay cash on delivery, or has that changed?
Cash on delivery is falling fast. From near-total dominance a few years ago, estimates now put it somewhere between 30% and 65% depending on the platform and the product category. Card payments keep gaining ground and buy now, pay later reached 8.2% of transactions in 2025. The direction is clear: paying online is becoming the norm and cash on delivery the exception.
Will TikTok Shop change how Romanians buy?
TikTok already influences 40% of Romanian online shoppers as a discovery channel. If and when TikTok Shop launches locally, it could shorten the decision cycle considerably for fashion, cosmetics and gadgets. Stores that already have an active TikTok presence will be in a better position when that happens.
How much does Black Friday matter for a small online store?
Black Friday brings a much larger average basket than an ordinary day and can account for 15 to 30% of annual sales for some stores. The catch is preparation: stock, courier capacity, server headroom. A store that cannot process the orders it takes on Black Friday loses more than one day of revenue - it loses customers for good. Taking part without being ready can do more harm than staying out.
Is it worth targeting rural buyers?
It depends on what you sell. Rural adoption is growing six times faster than urban, but the delivery infrastructure, lockers in particular, is thinner outside cities. Products with specific rural demand - building materials, agricultural supplies, home appliances - have a clear opening. Products that need fast delivery or generate frequent returns are harder to run profitably there.
