The increase in demand occurred in the context of continuous expansion of Romanian online stores towards foreign markets and the entry, in recent years, into the local market, of international brands and marketplaces.
"In 2023, 70% of the online stores that accessed Packeta Romania's services chose to expand their deliveries internationally, primarily targeting countries near Romania, the Balkan region, and other European countries with significant Romanian communities. The integration of Packeta Romania's services with local and international platforms and marketplaces has significantly contributed to accelerating the process of expanding international deliveries for Romanian online stores", says Alexandr Jeleascov, Managing Director at Packeta Romania, mentioning that partnerships and good collaboration with over 70 international carriers had a significant impact in reducing international delivery times and costs.
The growth recorded last year was also due to the optimization of delivery processes and the offering of various options, such as pick-up points for sending, collecting, or returning parcels, home delivery, and locker delivery, adapted to individual customer preferences.
For 2024, Packeta Romania is considering a growth similar to that recorded last year, as there is a continuous trend of online stores' interest in expanding to other markets. Moreover, process optimization and reduction of delivery times, the implementation of artificial intelligence and automation solutions, which can revolutionize logistic processes, and the increase in competitive level in this industry, will favour the expansion of cross-border commerce.
"We have been involved since 2020 in a continuous effort to develop strategic partnerships in the areas of eCommerce and logistics at the international level. Our goal is to facilitate access for our local B2C and C2C partners to new markets through a simple, fast, and advantageous logistic flow. We will continue to invest in the development of this segment, which is in continuous growth, and we will focus our attention on strengthening and improving the services offered, ensuring a quick adaptation to changes in the international market", adds Alexandr Jeleascov.
Asia is among Romanians' preferences for online orders from abroad
2023 brought significant changes in the behaviour of Romanian consumers regarding the purchase of products from abroad. In contrast to the previous period, when the shopping options of Romanians focused mainly on online stores or markets in Europe, Romanians are now placing significant orders, in the tens of thousands per day, on marketplaces from Asia, especially from China, influenced by more attractive prices, a wide range of products, availability of stock, and speed of deliveries.
"In the near future, we will witness the entry of more platforms from Asia into the Romanian market. However, it is expected that Romanians will continue to make purchases from this new emerging market. At the same time, we expect orders to continue towards already established European online stores in the eCommerce landscape. This diversity of options offers Romanian consumers the possibility to choose according to preferences, prices, and quality of services, thus contributing to a fair and competitive market", concludes Alexandr Jeleascov.
Packeta Group, the parent company of the Czech logistics and technology group Zásilkovna, as well as Packeta Romania, increased its turnover to 294 million euros in 2023, an increase of 18.3% compared to the previous year.
