NETOPIA Payments: Average online card transaction up 15% in 2022

According to NETOPIA Payments, the most used electronic payment processor in Romania and part of the NETOPIA group of companies, the average value of an online card transaction in 2022 was 265 lei, up 15% compared to the previous year. The company’s representatives expect that the accelerated inflation of the last period will temper the tendency of Romanians to make impulse purchases in 2023, and that they will be more frugal both in e-commerce and offline.

NETOPIA Payments saw a 35% increase in processed transactions in 2022 compared to 2021 and continues its upward trend for the eighth consecutive year. Also last year, the company recorded an average of over 3 million transactions per month, through all payment methods.
According to the company’s data, the top categories of products and services for which Romanians made electronic payments most often in 2022 were: utilities, financial services, furniture, fashion or IT&C products.

The busiest month in terms of the volume of transactions processed by NETOPIA Payments in 2022 was the month of November, when a large part of partner merchants organized the Black Friday event. Thus, online card transactions during Black Friday 2022 increased by approximately 27% compared to the previous edition.

As for the devices preferred by Romanians to make online purchases, as every year, the smartphone remains at the top. Last year, the percentage of Romanians who used a mobile phone to complete an online purchase was 72.2%, compared to a desktop with a percentage of 27.1% or a tablet with 0.7%.

Demographically, during the reference period, women were more likely to shop online at 52.4% compared to men at 47.6%. Also, the age segment with the highest level of online purchases was represented by 35-44 years old (25.52%), closely followed by 25-34 (22.46%), 45-54 (20.91%), 18-24 (14.33%), 55-64 (9.27%) and 65+ (7.51%). Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Brașov, Timișoara and Ploiesti were among the top cities where the most online transactions were made in 2022.

20% growth in 2022 of client portfolio for NETOPIA Payments
Last year, NETOPIA Payments registered a 20% increase in its client portfolio, in line with the direction of local e-commerce, which is expanding year by year. Some of the businesses have chosen to switch completely from offline to online, due to the low costs, but also the increased demand for such services.

Currently, 24,000 businesses in the e-commerce industry process payments through the services offered by NETOPIA Payments.

“For NETOPIA Payments, 2022 was strongly represented by the growth of the client portfolio, where we saw a 20% increase compared to the previous year. Regarding the evolution of online card transactions in 2023, we estimate a percentage growth above the market average, as it was also last year. Depending on the period and the percentage points by which inflation will decrease, we will also see a slight increase in online transactions. However, we must take into account that Romanians will be more frugal in making impulse purchases, both in the online and offline areas of physical stores”, said Horia Grozea, Sales & Business Development Director, NETOPIA Payments.

The company’s business goals for 2023 include aligning with international trends and launching new payment methods, such as BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later). The company also aims to continue developing solutions and expanding payment options to offer merchants and end customers an online and offline SMS payment experience as comfortable, safe and fast as possible. Another objective for this year is to improve customer satisfaction and increase loyalty through our own customer support service, in all areas: commercial, financial and technical.

NETOPIA group also includes web2sms, one of the oldest services for sending SMS for information and marketing. web2sms registered an increase of over 20% in the volume of SMS sent, compared to the previous year. It is also important to mention that the direct targeting service of Vodafone and Orange customers was requested much more, which indicates an intensification of the marketing efforts of the Romanian business environment