E-COMMERCE NATIONAL MARKET-STUDY FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF MANIFESTED DEMAND

E-commerce market in Romania recorded the lowest level of development compared to other EU countries, in terms of the intensity of online purchase habit of the population of Romania. Thus, in 2014, only 16.7% of those who used the computer in the range of 16-74 years and 10% of the total population of the same age had made online purchases, compared with 63.3% and 50% respectively the same indicators at EU level. Still, in Romania there was a rapid increase in the share of those who make online purchases, so in 8 years (2007-2014) this indicator increased by 3 times. Regarding the categories of the population by various characteristics, greater orientation towards online purchases is recorded among individuals with high formal education, youth (under 35), with above-average incomes. In terms of product categories purchased online, the most favorite categories are: clothes, sports goods. This analysis is based mostly on official statistics provided by Eurostat.

find that in Romania the share of people who made online purchases in the total population of 16-74 years is still far from that average, but, however, is growing over time, because of the strong growth recorded nationally compared to lower dynamics at UE level (in the European Union, the analyzed indicator increased by 67% in the reference period). Thus, if in 2007 the share of population in our country who made online purchases in the total population of 16 -74 years made up 10% compared to the EU average (90% below average), in 2014 it represented 20% of EU average (80%) below average. (Figure 1)

Figure 1 Evolution of the share of people who made online purchases in the total population of 16-74 years in Romania and European Union
Source: own processing from Eurostat data Note: are considered people who have used computer / made online purchases for private use in the last 12 months of the reporting period. The data refer to the population of 16-74 years

The usage of computer in Romania between 2007 and 2014
Making purchases online is largely influenced by people's access to technology, Romania being from this point of view far from the EU average. Thus, in 2014, 60% of the population of 16-74 years used the computer, compared to 79% EU average. In time, the mentioned indicator followed an upward trend, exceeding the EU average (in the 2007-2014 period the proportion of people who used the computer in total population of 16-74 years increased by 57.9% nationally and 21.5% at EU level).

The link between the use of computer and orientation of the population towards online purchases in Romania between 2007 and 2014
In fact, between the development of the two national indicators presented above there is a strong and significant correlation, increased access to technology or computer using generating an increase in orientation of Romanian population towards online purchases; on average, in the 8 years analyzed, for each 100 new users of computer there are 29 new online buyers ( Figure 3 and Table 1)

EU -28 Romania
Increasing the share of those who made online purchases in Romania's total population of 16-74 years was not only on account of the increasing of the number of computer users, but also as a result of the habit of buying goods on the Internet of the computer users ( Figure 4). Thus, the increase in the period 2007 -2014 of 3.33 times of the share of those who made online purchases was generated by the increase of 58% of the share of users of computers, and by the 2.1 times increase in the share of those who did online purchases in total computer users. On yearly average, the increasing by 18.8% in the share of those who bought from the Internet in the total population of 16-74 years in Romania was generated by a 6.7% increase in the proportion of computer users and by 11.3% increase of the share of users who purchased online. (Table 2)

Economic and demographic characteristics of online consumers
On economic and demographic groups in the population there are significant differences in terms of online shopping habit (Table 3). Thus, considering the age, a much higher percentage of those who buy online are recorded in age groups under 45 years compared to those over 45. The accelerated dynamics of this indicator was recorded in the age groups of 35-44, 25-34 respectively.
In the categories of population by sex there is not a substantial differences in terms of online shopping habit.
Considering the education, the largest share of those who make purchases online are individuals with high formal education, followed by individuals with medium formal education. In fact, according to this criterion there are found the greatest differences in population groups. Also, a higher percentage of those who buy online are found among people with higher incomes, increased purchasing power being accompanied by greater orientation towards this form of distribution.