18 percent year on year increase in share of consumer spending in Romania, Visa informs

Newsroom 27/01/2011 | 14:45

Expenditures made on Visa cards at merchants registered a growth of 19 percent, marking a year on year increase in the share of consumer spending of 18 percent. This indicates, as Visa Europe informs, that more transactions out of the overall consumer transactions (including cash and other cards) were made with Visa cards.

The number of transactions on Visa cards at merchants grew by over 27 percent in 2010.  This growth now means that one in every three transactions on a Visa card was made at merchants, up from 2009, when only a quarter of transactions was made at the point of sales.

“In the last few years, we can see that Romanians have accelerated their turn to cashless payments, becoming more sophisticated in their spending habits. They not only use their cards at merchants more often with a 27 percent increase versus last year, but also for tax payments. In the first three months in 2010, Romanians paid their taxes by card more than they have in the entire year of 2009, following our communication campaign”, says Catalin Cretu, general manager Visa Europe Romania (in picture).

In the reported year (October 2009 – September 2010), 32 percent of the Visa transactions were made at merchants, while the volume spent in stores by Visa cards represented 14 percent of the total spend on Visa cards. In 2009, transactions at merchants represented 26% out of total transactions and 12 percent out of total value. The number of Visa cards increased steadily by almost 3 percent, to a total amount of 6.56 million Visa cards in Romania. The largest part of the portfolio is represented by debit cards, more than 80 percent of all spend being debit transactions.

On what concerns credit cards, following a continued difficult economic context, in 2010, the spending behaviour of the credit cardholders continued to be focused on the essential shopping list. The average transaction value on credit cards decreased by 11.6 percent, indicating that Romanians chose to limit high value expenditures. The commercial cards segment registered a positive trend for all indicators, more Visa commercial cards being issued (+12.5 percent), accounting for larger spend (+25.7) and an increased use at merchants (+26 percent), indicating a better comfort and higher security of companies in using the cards. 

In 2011, Visa informs that it aims to stimulate POS usage via education, promotions, new products and services and continue to expand the acceptance network with focus on non-accepting areas, primarily Government sector. Moreover, with the support of the member banks, Visa local office will introduce innovative products to serve identified customers’ needs, such as contactless, cashback or online tax payments.

 

Corina Dumitrescu

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