June 29 (SeeNews) - The Romanian unit of US-based digital payment company Visa said on Monday that online deals with Visa cards in Romania increased by 50% year-on-year in April, as the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak gave a strong boost to e-commerce.
This period has accelerated the move to digital like never before, as many companies were bound to go online in order to keep their business afloat and safety measures against Covid 19 influenced consumers’ payment behavior, Visa Romania said in a press release.
Thus, there was a growing preference for contactless and mobile payments, as well as a shift to online.
"Online shopping and accepting cashless payments are no longer just a convenience but a necessity in the current context defined by so many restrictions imposed by Covid-19. We are witnessing a real change in consumer behavior, as almost 1 in 7 of Visa cardholders in Romania who usually didn’t pay online 1, has made an online purchase by card for the first time after the coronavirus outbreak," Visa Romania country manager Elena Ungureanu said.
The largest increases in domestic online transactions can be noticed in the case of home improvements and supply, which increased their online transaction value almost tenfold, grocery stores, restaurants, apparel and accessories with a growth of around 3 times and utility payments close to double.
Although online shopping has been growing steadily in Romania over the past years, there is clearly room for further growth as only 29% of internet users in Romania shopped online in the past year, compared to the European average of 67%, according to Eurostat data, Visa said.