Rising competition in Romania’s online grocery market
The competition in the online food trade, a market of EUR 200-250 mln in Romania, is rising - according to Ziarul Financiar daily summing up the latest developments. eMAG, Rohlik, a player from the Czech Republic, and Grovy, an ultra-fast delivery platform, are the latest players.
The first to develop the market were the hypermarkets and supermarkets chains, which wanted to capture the growing demand.
Online commerce came to Romania last year to hold a market share of about 1% of total sales of food and other consumer goods after consumers migrated to this distribution channel forced by mobility restrictions or simply by caution.
In a market of about EUR 20 bln, the online sales can be estimated at about EUR 200 mln in 2020, 3-4 times higher than in the last year before the pandemic, according to ZF calculations based on market information. The upward trend continued in 2021.